


Deus Ex: Proteus

by E_Meags



Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:47:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 95,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6255289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E_Meags/pseuds/E_Meags
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Panchaea, Adam returns to Detroit, determined to expose the Illuminate. His fate is entwined with another as they both seek answers about their past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Proteus

**Proteus**

Greek Mythology \- A sea god, son of Oceanus and Tethys, noted for his ability to assume different forms. He can foretell the future, but will change his shape to avoid having to do so.

Etymology – Name suggests the "first" or the "firstborn". From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of versatile and mutable with the positive connotation of adaptability.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Prologue

_Panchaea_

From the broadcast room, Adam stared out the window at the vast expanse of the ocean. The span of blue water stretched in every direction, impenetrable and entirely unpredictable, mocking him in its infinity. The sea churned and glittered under the tinkling stretch of the sun’s last rays. The dusky orange orb was melting into the horizon, slowly being swallowed by the ocean’s inky darkness.

Adam watched the clouds roll in as the wind increased in strength and veered into the sea. It whipped the tops of the waves into a graceful plume of curling spray.

Below the surface, the sinuous movement of the currents flowed in a perpetual motion. For an invisible force, the currents exerted enormous influence over the ocean. It was nature’s cautionary tale. Despite the ocean’s vastness, its strength and capacity for destruction, it was entirely dependent on the currents, an impalpable, unseen force.

It was difficult not to draw parallels with his own life. He felt that same invisible pull, the unfamiliar helplessness as he was pushed in a certain direction by unseen forces.

Looking over his shoulder at the control panel, Adam scowled, thoroughly disgruntled with the choice that had been thrust upon him. Truth be told, he was utterly exhausted. The responsibility was stifling. He heard the thunderous sound of millions of people’s heartbeats synchronizing in fear. Across the globe, thousands were dying so that one man could prove a point.

Darrow, Taggart, Sarif. Three overly ambitious men. All with the same egotistical belief that their outlook was right. Who did he blame? The Humanity Front, VersaLife or the Illuminate?

While staunch opposers to augmentation technology, would the public believe that the Humanity Front could conceive, or even implement, such a global terrorist attack. Most saw their efforts as posturing and ineffective. Blaming the incident on the Humanity Front could only incite further antagonism between Augs and the public. Which was likely to end in more lives lost.

The Illuminate. Who would believe that an enigmatic organization like the Illuminate, which most people doubted even existed, could be responsible for the worldwide pandemonium. Adam wasn’t certain that prematurely exposing them, without any proof, was the right direction. Brushed off as the rantings of a delusional old man, Darrow’s claims would remain unfounded. And the Illuminate could continue to operate in the background, safe from exposure.

But blaming the hallucinations on VersaLife's supposedly contaminated Neuropozyne didn’t appear to be the solution either. What goal would that achieve? Individuals who were augmented would forever be afraid of another episode, possibly refusing to use the drug which their lives depended on. More deaths and scare tactics weren’t the answer.

So what was the answer? How could he, a single man, choose the outcome of today’s events? What he personally believed didn’t give him the right to manipulate the masses. Yes, he believed in regulation, but not at the cost of freedom.

It was possible that humanity could someday overcome their biggest flaw, egocentricity, through technological advancement. It was also entirely possible that technology could be the end of the human race. But, did a technology fearing future truly achieve? It felt like a step backwards.

If he chose Sarif’s explanation, what future was he creating? Adam was only too aware of how dangerous scientific advancement and centralized power was. It was how Panchaea was even possible. Regulation of augmentation should not be in the hands of the very people who created the tech.

Walking over to the control panel, Adam hesitated, hand poised over the broadcast signal. There was only one choice which he found morally acceptable, which didn’t involve falsifying information or implicating innocent parties.

Making his decision Adam sent the broadcast. Only time would tell if the fallout would divide humanity or make it stronger.


	3. Chapter 1

Afloat in a sea of obscurity, something she couldn’t identify penetrated the shroud of unconsciousness. Awareness wound amiably through her synapses. Like the pull of the tides, cognizance lapped at her mind, washing over her senses like a gently splashing wave.

Then, an incessant sound burrowed through the serenity surrounding her. It thundered in her ears, building to a crescendo. The piercing noise roughly tore open the veil of peaceful obliviousness, making her formerly leisurely float to the surface feel more like thrusting through dry earth.

Her thoughts felt disjointed, rolling around her mind with no coherency. Pliable, almost mutable, her mind stretched impossibly far, seeking the lucidity just out of reach.

The steady beep finally burrowed through the last layer of consciousness, snapping her eyes open. An inky blackness surrounded her. A darkness so terrifyingly oppressive, it compressed around her, soaking into her skin.

Fear clawed at her insides, raking talons slicing relentlessly, threatening to overwhelm her. Her dry lips opened and a thin moan escaped as she felt the sudden painful rush of blood to her inert limbs. Cramps tightened what seemed like every muscle in her body. Clenching her teeth, she rode the waves of pain as her body adjusted.

The beeping continued to pulse around her, matching the building crescendo of her heartbeat.

As soon as she could move, she stretched her legs out, but immediately collided with something hard. Shooting her arms out, her elbows encountered the same resistance. An all-consuming terror seized her thoughts in a vice-like grip. _She was buried alive_.

Before a scream could carve up her throat, the incandescent blue of a computer screen lit up above her. It startled her, enough to distract her from her thudding heart sending bolts of adrenaline shooting through her system.

The LED screen flickered, lighting up the outline of a human body. She watched, oddly mesmerized as the screen provided an image of internal organs. Immediately, it began to measure brain function, respitory system, cardiac level and blood pressure. Was it quantifying _her_ internal workings?

A faint click to the left and what she’d mistaken for a tomb actually turned out to be more of a capsule. The lid rose mechanically, opening smoothly until it was completely ajar. Seconds passed while she stared numbly at the opening.

She sat up, rubbery arms barely taking her weight. Something tugged on her arm. Looking down, for the first time she noticed the various wires and needles attached to her. Frowning, she yanked them out, turning abruptly to stare at the screen. Alarms sounded as soon as she removed them. With visibly shaky hands, she pulled the needles out, tossing them aside.

With a panting groan, she clasped the side of the capsule and swung her legs over the edge. The floor was cold, the pervading chill creeping across the soles of her feet.

She tried to stand up. Failed miserably when her knees buckled, her entire body collapsing into an inelegant heap on to the floor. It tore a surprised grunt from her. Pain sizzled through her, unpleasantly lighting up nerve endings.

Her muscles felt liquefied, like she’s got no bones and at any minute might sink into the ground like jelly. There’s a persistent weakness throughout her body, a sluggishness she can’t shake. Everything felt numb, discordant, nothing felt real. Even her fear had faded, was only a background hum buzzing around her mind.

She doesn’t know how long she sat there, panting, waiting for her body to respond. An odd tingling sensation swarmed over her, not unlike pins and needles, but encompassing her entire body. With it, some of her strength returned. And so did her overwhelming desire to escape.

Gritting her teeth, she reached over to clasp the edge of the capsule. Her fingers were still slightly numb but at least functional. The muscle in her arms burned uncomfortably as she tried to pull herself up. A tremble shook her entire body but she didn’t give up. Grunting with the effort, ignoring the fiery bursts through her sinews, she hauled herself up.

Her muscles constricted uncomfortably as she stood there, upright, but too weary to move any further. Dizziness swirled in her mind, flitting shadows twined around the edge of her sight as she fought against vertigo.

Her legs trembled and an answering shudder wracked her body. Sweat dripped down her face, stinging her eyes. But she didn’t take her hand off the capsule to wipe the sweat away, afraid she’ll fall again.

The capsule’s blue light casts a strangely alien glow around the room. Chasing away the corner shadows with a luminesce that’s not entirely comforting.

Bending slightly she looked inside the capsule. How long was she in there for? She can move, albeit rather sluggishly, and despite some cognitive uncertainty, there doesn’t appear to be any enduring effects from her ‘hibernation’.

Abruptly, the screen flickered off, plummeting the room into darkness. It’s not the suffocating blackness she awoke to, and her eyes adjust quickly. Even without much light, she can see remarkably well. In shades of grey, like a black and white film.

Glancing around, she spotted a door handle. Hesitantly, she lifted her hand off the capsule, only the tips of her fingers resting on the edge. Ready to grab it if it looked like she was about to fall again.

Moving one foot, there was only a small tremble but she’s able to lean her weight forward. Blowing out a breath, she’s relieved to find she can stand unassisted. Strength is returning to her body, her accelerated healing working overtime to combat any damage she’s sustained.

Taking a few shuffling steps towards the door, she stopped suddenly, her sensitive nose wrinkling at the overwhelming metallic taste permeating the air. It’s unexpectedly overpowering, causing her stomach to rebel.

The rising nausea clawing up her throat made her gag. Bending over, her stomach roiled against the coppery taste coating her tongue. She retched, heaving gags that brought nothing up.

With a supreme effort, she reduced the intensity of her taste receptors. She hadn’t been this overwhelmed by her senses for a long time. Why was she having difficulty controlling them now? Breathing deeply, the nausea ebbed until there’s only the faintest trace of it.

Frowning, she looked around, realizing where the metallic flavor originated. She’s not in a room, rather what appeared to be some type of metal container. Fear thrummed inside her like a plucked guitar string, resonating with the overpowering desire to escape.

Taking small unsteady steps, she lurched towards the door and grabbed the handle. It’s cool to the touch, a balm against the broiling uneasiness inside her. Wrapping a hand around the lever, she pushed experimentally. It’s either rusted shut or locked because it won’t budge.  

Panic lent her strength. Not wanting to be trapped inside the container longer than necessary, she threw all her weight into the downward turn of the handle. There’s minute resistance at first, then a slight creak and it snapped off in her hand.

Staring at the handle inanely for a few seconds, she shook her head and absently discarded it. It hit the ground and bounced once. Just like a stone thrown in the middle of a still pool, the ripple effect on her hearing was astounding. The sound echoed around the container, increasing her audible range to an uncomfortable level.

She grasped both hands to her ears to stop the piercing sound from reverberating like a jackhammer in her skull. The sound kept resonating, crashing over her in waves.

The noise kept ringing in her ears, scraping against her eardrums until she thought deafness would be preferable to the agony assaulting her senses. Slowly, the ringing dulled, tinkling off until nothing but a faint echo remained. That and a pounding headache.

Groaning, she blinked away the tears caught on her eyelashes. Despite being initially overwhelmed, her senses appear to stabilize naturally. At least enough for her to control the intensity without becoming incapacitated.

The door had opened slightly, letting in a cool breeze. It ruffled her hair, the long strands flowing gently around her shoulders.

Taking a wary step outside, her eyes darted frantically around, searching out any possible danger. There was nothing but row upon row of containers. They stretched for miles each way, a variegated wall of khaki and rust red.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, sorting out the different scents. The breeze shifted, eddying around her, carrying the different traces from miles away. The scat of feral animal, exhaust from vehicles, food. Her stomach growled in response, made her uncomfortably aware of how ravenously hungry she was.

A memory stirred, sluggish, but pushing through the indistinct haze surrounding her mind. An explosion, pain, fire. Where did that come from? The question stilled her instantly. Her memory. Pieces were there, but there were also gaping holes. She didn’t even remember _how_ she got into that container.

Straining to recall that last memory was difficult. All she could remember was the sound of an explosion. Searing pain. Maybe. Even those memories lashed around her mind, frustratingly out of reach.

Shaking herself from this reverie, she looked down, and for the first time noticed her attire. Pulling absently at her shirt, it looked like she was wearing an orderly’s hospital garb. And she had no shoes.

Frustration and confusion pulsed through her. She didn’t even know _where_ she was. Looking around, she noted each container had a number etched on the side. Turning around, she squinted to see what number hers was. 104.

Swallowing was difficult due to the sandpaper roughness coating her mouth. She needed water. Reluctance wound through her like a tight spring. Indecision rooted her to the ground. She had no idea where she was, how she got there or why she’d woken in a capsule. The only constant in her world at that moment was the container behind her. And she certainly _didn’t_ want to go back in there.

Taking a tentative step forward, senses on alert, she sniffed the air, but could detect no danger. Although, she honestly didn’t know what to expect. Taking another tentative step, she moved further away.

Giving the container one last, lingering look she shuffled away. It took an inordinate amount of time to walk to the end of the row because her body was still incredibly stiff and unsteady. Every few steps she forced herself to stop to determine if she was in danger.

The night was clear, with only the faintest glint of starlight sprinkling across the heavens. A full moon hung low, its milky radiance illuminating her surroundings.

The further she walked, the more she found it difficult to hold down the panic threatening to erupt from her throat. Her nerves felt frayed to the quick, expecting someone to jump out at her and place her back in the capsule.

The walk to the entrance of the container yard was strenuous. She was out of breath, sweating profusely and enormously thirty. Fatigue pulled at her mind and body, making it difficult to formulate any type of strategy.

When the containers counted down to single digits, she slowed her steps further. Cocking her head, she heard the sound of a television. Keeping to the shadows, she peeked around the edge of a container.

Saw a security hub being manned by a sleeping guard. The man was in his late-40’s, with a receding hairline and increasing stomach. He had the remnants of crumbs smattered in his greying beard. Dressed in the plain khaki green of rent-a-cops around the world, he was dozing, feet up on his workstation.

A loud snore woke him, his eyes fluttered open and he looked around blearily. Podgy fingers tapped on a console in front of him. She held her breath, waiting for an alarm. When the guard settled back into his chair and closed his eyes, her shoulders sagged in relief.

Only one camera was online and it was pointed towards the entrance. Sneaking around it would be easy. There weren’t any additional security measures, as far as she could discern. But she didn’t move until she could hear his sputtering snores again.

Absently listening, but not overly interested in what the news anchor was saying, she took a step closer to the entrance.

“…. _Eliza Cassan reporting from Detroit, this 5 th October 2027_.”

Her thoughts fragmented, splicing dangerously until it was no longer possible to distinguish one coherent idea from another. A paralyzing fear curled around her lungs and squeezed. The last she knew, it was August. Had she been trapped in that capsule for two months?

Fear was rapidly turning into panic. She tried to stop it, to compress the terror down deep inside her. But it wasn’t to be contained. It tumbled out unchecked until she was in some kind of mental free-fall, unable to analyze anything.

In a kind of trance, she ran. Ignored the tightness in her chest, disregarded the muscle weakness making her feel like she was pushing against an invisible barrier. She skirted around the security camera, giving the hub a wide berth. Assumed neither were alerted to her presence because she didn’t hear an alarm.

The night blurred as she ran. Faster and harder, trying to escape the newscaster’s words. Her clothes, slick with perspiration, clung to her skin. Sweat rolled down her face, gluing her hair to the nape of her neck.

The burn in her lungs became too uncomfortable to ignore so she slowed her steps. Breathing raggedly, she put her hands on her knees and bent over. Took in gulping breaths in an effort to feed oxygen into her tired body.

She’d stopped in the middle of an old basketball court. The cement was cracked and the weeds were poking their shrivelled yellow stalks out of the surface. The two goal posts were bent at awkward angles and held no netting.

Sliding down on her haunches, she tried desperately to combat the fear and think rationally. Her hands touched the floor. She felt the rough concrete, the small imperfections in the bubbled surface. Closing her eyes, she attempted to center herself, push away the negative emotions so she could _think_. Not just react.

The sound of footsteps snapped her eyes open. Distracted by her thoughts, she’d made a mistake. She hadn’t assessed her surroundings. Eyes darting around, she saw several pairs of legs. Realized she’d allowed herself to be effectively surrounded. Under normal circumstances, it never would have happened. Not that it mattered. Now she was up shit creek without a weapon.

Staring at faded jeans not far from her face, she slowly raised her head. To meet the augmented eyes of a gangbanger. He grinned at her, displaying an ugly metal grill. She’d never understood the fashion of applying metal to teeth for purely decorative reasons.

Shifting to the side, she took the opportunity to take a quick look around her. Her heart lurched in her chest. Nine gangbangers, all augmented to some degree. All males, in their late teens, early 20’s.

A preternatural calm descended over her, smoothing away the fear and doubt. Assess then act. The familiar edict on replay in her mind, giving her the courage to deny the fear. To allow nothing but the well-rehearsed movements of her training to overcome her.

Their leader, because that was obvious who he was, cocked his head and stared at her. She stared back, refusing to be intimidated. The Banger had an unhealthy grey pallor to his skin. A light sheen of sweat covered his forehead. Rejection syndrome. One arm was completely replaced with a cybernetic prosthesis. It was poor quality, looking like rejected tin.

Long, greasy blonde hair fell limply around his face. Light brown eyes stared out at her, his pupils blown wide. Was he high on narcotics? Brushing hair away from his face, the Banger smiled at her. It was a feral curving of his lips and did nothing to assuage her concerns.

Glancing behind the leader, she saw the others wore baggy denim jeans and the same green jacket, signifying their allegiance to their particular gang.

“Well hello sweetheart. Didn’t expect to find such a lovely looking morsel ‘ere,” he drawled.

In a fucking English accent. Who’d have thought?

“And I certainly didn’t _want_ to find your kind round ‘ _ere,_ ” she retorted, deliberately mocking.

The leader didn’t react at first, he just stared at her in shock, the smile dropping instantly from his face. Then a few of the guys snickered. Anger snapped across his expression. He shot a look behind him and the snicker cut off abruptly. Turning back, resentment pulled his lip up and she saw cruelty spark behind his brown eyes.

She sighed internally. That was definitely not her smartest move, pissing off an augmented gangbanger.

“You have spark. I like that. So do my boys. We like it when girls struggle as we fuck them like…”

She didn’t even give him time to finish his sentence. Just launched herself at him from her crouched position.

She had the satisfaction of seeing the grin fade from his face when she landed two punches to his gut. While he was hunched over, she grabbed him around the neck and twisted. Heard the satisfying sound of his spinal cord snapping.

Sensing movement behind her, she tried to turn around. A vicious punch to her kidneys jerked her forward. She cried out as pain bloomed in her lower back.

Gritting her teeth, she rolled with the punch. Awkwardly finding her footing, she twisted around, grabbed the nearest Banger’s shirtfront. Wrapping her hands around his throat, he gasped in shock before, with one quick squeeze, she crushed his larynx.

She thought about running but doubted she’d get to the edge of the court without a bullet in the back. They were all armed. Not only could she see the glint of silver in the waistband of some of their pants. She could also smell the distinct residue of smoke from a weapon fired recently.

Two Bangers stepped forward simultaneously, as if they’d both practiced the move hundreds of times before. Narrowing her eyes, she realized why. Twins. They were both scrappy fighters, punching wherever they saw an opening.

One twin made a mistake. He came at her, head lowered, expecting his brother to attack from the other side. The brother was a fraction of a second too slow. She used the faster twin’s momentum to hurl him towards his oncoming brother. They both collided with a groan and landed in a heap. Before they could get up, she used the heel of her foot to stamp on both their faces.

She heard the cock of a gun, the grinding of metal as it scraped against the chamber. The adrenaline rushing through her blood slowed events down as her gaze latched onto the discordantly bright silver gun.

Everything else faded into obscurity as she looked into the gaping hole of the chamber. Such a small object capable of unleashing such devastating. Time sped up again, or appeared to, as she jerked to the side in an effort to outmanoeuver a bullet. Aware of the abysmal odds of actually dodging a bullet didn’t stop her from trying.

Launching herself to the side, she heard the echo of the gunshot. Rather than landing in a neat roll like she’d planned, she stumbled to the side, hands shooting out instinctively to cushion her fall. Hissing, she ignored the pain as her palms scraped against the concrete.

Scrambling, she stood up quickly, unsteadily whipping around for in anticipation of an attack. But her body felt wrong. She didn’t feeling anything. No pain, just numbness. She looked down, thinking the Banger had missed, but realized how wrong she was.

Blood oozed from her hip, rapidly coloring her grey shirt a garish red. Like the snapping of a rubber band against skin, the shock of pain was unexpected. Taking a staggering step backward, her hand immediately covered the growing red stain.

An amused chuckle reached her ears, snapping her head up to look at the Banger who shot. He had an unpleasant grin plastered over his face. Fear spiked in her system. She turned to run. Two Bangers dove towards her, grabbing her arm to stop her.

Yanking her arm away, she elbowed one of the guys in the neck. He let go and choked out his indignance. Another tried to punch her but she managed to shift to the side. Instead of her face, his fist clipped her ear.  

Pain wormed its way through her muscles like wildfire, spreading its misery deeper into the wound.  Lethargy overcame her. God, she just wanted to sleep.

When a Banger stepped towards her, her fist shot out instinctively, a shout of pain escaping as her hip protested this sudden exertion. But she did have the satisfaction of watching teeth fly out his mouth.

“Fucking bitch,” he lisped.

She didn’t even see the other Banger approach, just felt the colliding pain as his fist smashed into the side of her head. The punch pulled her around and she plummeted towards the ground, her vision fading until it felt like she was falling down a long, black hole.

Pain spiked as she landed on her hip. It took a moment to recognize that the exasperatingly loud moaning was actually coming from her. She tried to get up. To get her arms to move. To place her hands on the concrete and heave until she stood up. But her body refused the command she heard her mind scream at her.

The bitumen felt cool against her cheek. A counterpoint to the furnace like heat thrusting the pain unrelentingly through her body. Her head was wrenched up suddenly. A Banger fisted her hair and tugged hard enough to make her eyes water.

“How about we have some fun, huh? Before we shoot you of course. We don’t like fucking no dead girls,” he rasped in her ear.

Loathing slithered through as his fetid hot breath blew against her cheek. He pulled on her hair again, laughed when she cried out. Thrusting his hips obscenely into her back, the Banger chuckled as he ground his erection into her.

White-hot anger coursed through her, pushing through the haze of pain and lethargy. Baring her teeth, she found the last of her strength. Lifting her arm, she smashed her elbow backwards into the Banger’s nose.

Howling in pain, he let go of her hair. Her forehead banged against the concrete. Black dots pulsated at the edge of her vision as she fought desperately against the tide of unconsciousness. She knew that if she passed out, she’d never wake up.

The warbled scream as she flipped over, onto her back, sounded animalistic, even to her own ears. She wanted to get up and run. She just couldn’t. Fading fast, darkness was already flicking at the edge of her vision like a broken torch.

“I’m going to kill you bitch,” he snarled.

The Banger took one step towards her before his chest exploded in a shower of red. He took a wavering step forward before tilting over, dead before he hit the ground. She blinked. And again. The Banger was still dead. Wondered if blood loss was responsible for this hallucination.

Like some kind of phantom, a figure in black descended on the remaining Bangers. It was startling. Unexpected. Possibly her mind comforting her in her last moments by creating a distinctly different outcome than the one she was living.

She tried to follow the blur of movement as one man took on the remaining Bangers. She idly wondered whether he was friend of foe. Her eyelids fluttered as she struggled to remain conscious. As if by its own accord, her head lolled back.

Upon hearing footsteps, she somehow managed to open her eyes, only mildly interested to see who it was. She doubted she’d survive long so it mattered little. They might even finish her off quickly, at least save her some suffering.

Blinking rapidly, surprise coursed through her, momentarily infusing her with enough energy to keep her eyes open. The strange man’s outline blurred as he stepped in front of her. She couldn’t make out his features, the light above him shone with a blinding intensity. A stark contrast to the midnight aura of menace surrounding him.

The sleek blackness of his Cybernetic Arm prosthesis glinted in the light. He was an avenging angel. If angels were made of metal. A feverish laugh worked up her throat, came out more like a whimper.

The man lent forward, reaching out towards her. She should have been afraid of him. Maybe she was past fear. The pain was dulling, the agony abating as numbness spread through her. The darkness swarmed around her, enfolding her into its warm embrace.


	4. Chapter 2

_The polished black metal of the revolver glinted as it was lowered towards his head. The gleaming chamber caught the flickering shadows of the nearby fire._

_The smile pasted on the face of the man pointing the gun at him was nothing but malicious. His eyes were oddly flat, but it was the brutality lurking in their depths which caused his stomach to roil. He watched as the man’s finger curled around the trigger._

_Suddenly, without warning, the gun morphed into a cybernetic arm. It sprang from the man’s hand to grip him around the throat. He tried to move, to grab the arm and wrench himself away._

_The command his brain sent to his limbs misfired. It jolted down his spine but could go no further. Looking down he saw why. He was missing both arms and the bottom half of his legs._

_He opened his mouth to scream. To deny what he knew was true. To act before anyone could take liberties with his body_ …

Adam Jensen bolted upright in bed, panting heavily. His sweat soaked skin allowed the top sheet to stick to his bare chest. His breathing was ragged, coming in heaving gasps. Disorientation pressed in around him, caused the looming shadows in his bedroom to appear oppressively menacing.

The adrenaline was shooting tiny shockwaves into his body, priming him for action. His retinal display warned him of the excess of epinephrine in his system. As he blinked away the data, recognition filtered through the haze he always experienced after the nightmare.

Looking over at the clock, his shoulders sagged upon seeing the display. The glowing letters mocked him. 3:30 am. He’d barely been asleep for half an hour.

His heart was returning to its normal rhythm. Adam snorted at the irony of that thought. As if the artificial organ inside his chest could ever really be considered _normal_.

Adam brushed away the sweaty sheet irritably. With a heavy sigh, he dropped backwards, head landing on the pillow. Curled his lip when he found the cloying dampness from his sweat had soaked through the fabric.

Swinging his legs off the bed, Adam ran a hand through his hair. The same fucking nightmare. He knew from experience he’d not get back to sleep.

Adam was no stranger to the life of an insomniac. Ever since his augmentation procedure, and especially since returning from Panchaea and the nightmare Hugh Darrow created, it had become increasingly difficult for him to get any kind of peace.

Nightmares plagued his unconscious mind. He’d lied to Sarif’s Psychiatrist. Repeatedly. No ma’am, I am not having any after affects from Panchaea. No, I’m not having nightmares. And certainly not the same reoccurring nightmare. _Bullshit_.

Not that Sarif’s Psychiatrists had _any_ right questioning him about his experience. But if was continue working for Sarif he needed to pass the medical – physical and psychiatric. If he told them what happened every night he shut his eyes, they’d fastidiously continue to ask probing questions in an attempt to assign meaning to his nightmares. Adam was no expert, but it didn’t take a medical degree to work out the significance behind the reoccurring nightmare.

His memory was fragmented from the night he was forced to become augmented. Adam mainly remembered the experience through dreams. Sometimes he’d recall small snippets. The Doctor’s voice. The smell of his own burning flesh. The pain. Now, he was forced to endure another nightmare involving his actions at Panchaea.

His mind allowed him no respite, not even in sleep. Just like most nights, he lay awake, tossing and turning, uncomfortably aware it would be another sleepless night.

However, tonight, Adam felt far too restless to just lay there. Dressing quickly, he exited the apartment and stepped inside the elevator. The aggravating tinny sound of the elevator music didn’t improve his mood.

The Chiron building’s finishes were immaculate, the décor appropriately moody. But for Adam, it always lacked warmth, felt more mechanical. When he moved in a few months after his surgery, it suited his self-flagellation period. If he was part machine, why not live in a place with the same lack of humanity he associated with himself?

No one was in the lobby besides the night attendant, Jerry. Upon hearing the elevator, the attendant’s head jerked up guiltily. Adam watched Jerry surreptitiously wipe the spittle away from the corner of his mouth. Asleep, he’d obviously not expected anyone to come out in the small hours.

Adam snorted quietly in amusement. Jerry straightened his uniform and stood up. Seeing Adam he faltered, eyes lingering on his augmentations before darting nervously away. Adam ignored his reaction. He was used to it.

The fallout from Panchaea had caused worldwide controversy and an all-consuming hatred for Augs. Adam didn’t blame the public, or the government, for their reaction. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed or injured.

Families were ripped apart. Sometimes literally. Friends, co-workers and neighbors were ostracized. The dividing line between humanity was drawn. Those with augmentations and those without. There was no blurring the division, a stance had been taken.

The government were sanctioning laws, trying to make augmentations illegal. Adam shook his head cynically. Good luck with that. What would they do, under martial law get the Army to line everyone up so they could chop off cybernetic limbs?

While he understood the fear people had of another incident occurring where Augs lost control, did it give those with power the right to decide how others could live their lives?

Hadn’t they learnt anything from history? In an attempt to subjugate those with augmentations, the government were repeating the same mistakes generations past had. Oppressing a certain part of the populace was never a bright idea. The past was filled with instances where that didn’t work.

Augmentations _should_ have been regulated. Adam was never keen on the idea of people being free to have any augmentation they pleased without consequence. While aware of the irony of that thought, having quite a few prohibited augmentations himself, he never set out to become a weapon like others.

The government wanted to step in too late. Instead of regulating augmentations like they originally should have been, they were now being unnecessarily despotic by attempting to implement laws which would impede on basic human rights. Adam snorted sardonically. Overkill and unnecessary flourish as usual.

Two months after Panchaea and the riots, hatred and killing of people with augmentations hadn’t died down. It made walking the streets as an Aug very dangerous. Not that Adam was ever afraid of walking the streets of Detroit, day or night.

Confident in his own strength and abilities, he didn’t feel the danger others experienced when walking alone. In fact, Detroit in the early hours of the morning, with so few people, was the only time he could walk down the street and not feel the coiling hatred and tension simmering from others. Didn’t have to tolerate the vitriol directed towards him.

A cool breeze swirled around him, a balm against the anger churning in his gut. His felt a deep sense of unease about his future. Sarif Industries had taken a huge loss financially. Stocks were at an all-time low, as was morale within the company. Adam wondered how long he’d have a job. Sarif was a wealthy man but his company was recording losses for the first time in years.

Adam turned left and ducked under a tree. A spider web brushed against his face. The invisible threads felt cloying against his cheek as he cleared them away. Ironically, the spider web reminded him of the Illuminati. They were exceptionally skilled at spinning webs of their own.

A dangerous organization which operated in the background, the Illuminate’s very existence was cloaked in secrecy. Their stance on human augmentation was clear; they despised it. And they were far more dangerous than every Purity group combined, because they actually had the power to cause the most damage. Case in point, the Hyron Project.

Ahead, a woman walked out of a building and got into a waiting car. Adam narrowed his eyes. The woman had the extreme misfortune of looking very similar to his ex, Megan Reed. He sighed and turned to make his way into a seedier part of Detroit.

Megan was a source of disharmony in his life. Despite them sitting down to have a long overdue discussion, Adam was still dissatisfied with her answers. She’d admitted to using his DNA without his permission for her research.

Adam gritted his teeth thinking about that conversation….

_Opening the door of his apartment, Adam was unprepared for the rush of anger he felt upon seeing his ex’s face._

_Megan smiled at him tentatively, her green eyes flicking over to his augmented arms. They lingered there, and Adam saw calculation in her intelligent eyes before she looked up at him._

_“Are you going to let me in?” Megan asked, smile faltering slightly._

_He didn’t acknowledge her, just moved aside so she could enter. When Megan walked past him, Adam wrinkled his nose. The perfume she wore assaulted his senses, bringing forth a flood of memories. Megan at her desk typing well into the night, the perfume always lingering on their sheets. Her milky white skin beneath…_

_Adam clamped on that memory tightly, shutting the door harder than necessary, hearing Megan’s heartbeat jump with the loud sound._

_Standing in his living room, hands clasped in front of her, Megan’s gaze roamed over the boxes he hadn’t bothered to unpack. Her eyes lingered on the cereal boxes, guns and empty Scotch bottles._

_“Have you been here long?” she asked, looking pointedly at the boxes._

_Shrugging with a casualness he didn’t feel Adam answered, “Over a year.”_

_Megan opened her mouth, but seeing his expression, she left the question unanswered, but it was there on her face._ Why haven’t you unpacked? _He answered anyway, the anger spiking in his system making him want to lash out. Let Megan experience even a fraction of the pain he’d felt in the last year._

_“I don’t see the need to unpack when it’s not a home, just a place to sleep,” Adam stated flatly._

_Megan flinched, tried to hide her reaction by turning away from him. Adam walked into the kitchen, uncorking a bottle of Scotch and splashing a generous amount in a glass. He didn’t offer Megan any, she hated alcohol, and he’d cut back his consumption when they were together. Well to hell with her now._

_Walking over to the windows Megan stood with her back to him, staring out through the glass. Rays of sunlight filtered through arched panes, casting elongated shadows onto the floor and glinting off the guns._

_Adam walked out of his kitchen to stand behind Megan. Tipping the glass back, he found perverse pleasure in the way the alcohol burned as it trickled down his throat._

_When Megan turned around, the sharp planes of her face were emphasized by the sunlight slanting thought the glass. She wore the same high ruffle-necked blouse she’d always favored. It tapered down to her waist, hugging her hips, the grey material flawlessly immaculate. Her hair was pulled into her usual tight style. On anyone else it would have made them look ascetic, but with her high cheekbones Megan pulled off the look._

_Megan stared at him expectantly, but Adam did nothing but take another sip of Scotch. He wasn’t going to make it easier for her._

_“I didn’t think you’d agree to talk to me,” Megan commented when it became apparent he wasn’t going to speak._

_“Neither did I,” Adam retorted honestly._

_Blinking at his bluntness, Megan shifted uncomfortably. Adam relented, he couldn’t stand sullenness from others, could stand it even less from himself._

_“Let’s sit,” he suggested, gesturing to the living room._

_Walking across the room, Megan settled on the sofa, crossing her legs. Adam sat on the sofa opposite her and activated his Social Enhancer. If he was going to talk with Megan, he’d find out if she was being honest with him._

_“I’ve decided to resign from Sarif Industries. Bob Page at VersaLife offered me a position. I’ve spoken to David, but I asked him not to tell you until I’ve had the chance.”_

_Adam experienced the most intense rush of relief. He expected to be confronted by her presence every day. Didn’t know how he’d cope. Now he didn’t have to._

_“Are you taking your research with you?” Adam asked._

_Megan’s head jerked up defiantly, irritation sharpening her already harsh features. “Is that what you’re really asking Adam?”_

_Heartbeat spiking, Megan’s temperature also increased a few degrees. She was aggravated, but Adam hardly needed his Social Enhancer to tell him that._

_“I guess not. I’ll rephrase then. Will you take the DNA you stole from me?” Adam amended, voice sharpening despite his best efforts to remain calm._

_Sipping the Scotch, the burn as it hit his system lasted mere seconds before his Sentinel corrected the imbalance._

_Since he’d learnt of Megan’s betrayal, Adam had replayed in his mind how the conversation might take place. He was going to be composed, unperturbed. Of course, the reality of the situation was_ very _different. He was struggling with his anger, found Megan’s poised façade irritating._

_Placing her hands on her knees, Megan took a quick breath in before she spoke. “I apologize for misleading you Adam. Our relationship was getting very serious. If I was to consider having children with you, I needed to know your genetic markers. I didn’t plan on using your DNA for research purposes. I stumbled onto the find. I never deliberately set out to deceive you.”_

_Megan’s speech sounded rehearsed, a careful explanation meant to placate him and abdicate her of any wrongdoing. Curling his hand on the leather arm, Adam’s fingers tore through the material. Megan jerked and looked down at his fingers inside the sofa with a comically shocked expression._

_“Do you feel absolved now? That your lies and betrayal are of no consequence? It matters little as long as it’s in the name of science?” Adam asked, snorting derisively._

_The naturally gravely tones of his voice scraped in the space between them, his anger making the inflection more pronounced. Aggravation tightened Megan’s expression, made her eyes spark like green chips of ice._

_“I don’t need to be_ absolved _Adam,” Megan corrected. “I was going to tell you. In fact, the night I was captured by the Tyrants I was going to tell you but Frank interrupted me.”_

 _“Bullshit,” Adam exploded, “_ If _you were going to tell me it should have been the moment you discovered something. You should never have taken my blood anyway, even that was a breach of trust. What the fuck did you think I’d say if you came to me with those findings? You fucked up Megan. You didn’t trust or love me as much as I did you.”_

_Tears welled up in Megan’s eyes but Adam ignored them, not entirely sure they weren’t contrived.  A studied ploy to redirect the conversation by manipulating his emotions. He knew there had been a time when he would have enclosed her in his arms, smoothed away her tears and killed anyone who’d hurt her. Now he was the one hurting her, but he didn’t care._

_“That’s not true Adam. I still love you. We can get past this. I took that job at VersaLife to put some distance between us. While I was being held captive I never stopped thinking about you.”_

_Adam glanced sharply at Megan, frowning at something he heard in her voice. There was a deviation, a rise in her speech. Scanning her critically, Adam noted her elevated breathing, increased heartrate._

_Megan’s gaze skittered away from his face, touched on the coffee table between them, before coming back to rest on his chest. Megan couldn’t even look him in the eyes. Never stopped thinking about him? Adam didn’t believe that and Megan didn’t even have the conviction to try and sell the lie._

_“Can you at least push your glasses back Adam. It’s very hard to have an open conversation with someone when you can’t see their eyes.”_

_Obligingly Adam clicked his glasses back. “If the eyes are the windows to the soul, what are mine Meg? The interface to an engine?”_

_Megan’s head jerked back as if he’d physically struck her. “That’s not fair. Can you honestly say you’d even be alive now if you weren’t able to withstand such extensive augmentations? They saved your life Adam._ I _saved your live by discovering the unique capabilities of your DNA. I don’t see how you could possibly blame_ me _. Namir was responsible for your injuries.”_

_The Tyrants name flowed so casually from Megan’s lips. As if her abduction and subsequent forced imprisonment was nothing but an unpleasant experience, not a life-changing trauma. Tendrils of rage snaked through his mind, seizing on every memory he had of Megan, and squeezed. As if his brain was trying to purge her from his system._

_Adam didn’t move, just allowed the fury to burn itself out like a natural bushfire, razing every other emotion to the ground until there was nothing left but a husk. Devoid of feelings but at least in control. Blinking irritably, he cleared away the HUD warning. The data informed him of the dangerous levels of adrenaline in his system, compromising the vortex of his brain controlling rational thought. No shit._

_“Yeah, Namir,” he mocked unable to stop the words from tumbling out. “The guy who_ kidnapped _you but were on a first name basis with. The same guy who shot me in the head, and as far as you knew, killed me. Don’t tell me Stockholm Syndrome played any part in that relationship,” he taunted._

_Megan’s already pale face bleached into an unnatural white. She launched herself from the chair and stalked towards him. Lifted her hand in an attempt to slap him. His arm shot out before her palm connected with his face, stilling her action. Megan blanched as he held her wrist in a light grip, visibly shaken by his speed._

_“You have no idea what I went through,” Megan hissed at him, shock slowly bleeding into a raw, unhinged anger._

_“Neither do you Megan. I guess that makes both our experiences equally unique.”_

_Jerking her hand out of his grip, Megan stepped back from him. A tremble went through her body, whether from anger or distress Adam didn’t know. Sliding his glasses back over his eyes Adam found it just as difficult to suppress the riotous emotions threatening to overwhelm him._

_Megan gave him a withering glare before she turned around and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door. It took Adam exactly three seconds before he turned and hurled his glass against the wall. It splintered on impact, shards exploding, the alcohol running down the wall like Megan’s tears……_

That was a few months ago, and he still felt the sting of the conversation, even today. While he saw her actions as a betrayal, a shattering of his trust, Megan infuriatingly didn’t see it that way.

Adam couldn’t decide whether Megan really was Namir’s prisoner. At first, yes. But he’d seen where she’d been held. The state-of-the-art facilities would have meant Megan was free to conduct her research. She wasn’t mistreated, wasn’t deprived of anything. If Adam knew anything it was that Megan valued her research above all else, including her own comfort and, evidentially, the threat to her own life.

Megan appeared far too comfortable when he’d come to ‘rescue’ her. It was these last thoughts that had Adam seething. He believed Megan and her team were dead. Had, in fact, spent months following breadcrumbs from one side of the world to the other trying to avenge her ‘death’.

He’d had a few months of peace when she’d gone to work for VersaLife. But for some unfathomable reason, she’d returned to work at Sarif Industries last week. He was trying very hard to be professional. And civil. It was fucking hard work seeing her every day. He’d wished she’d stayed away.

As Adam rounded a corner, he came to a halt, watching an unlikely scene unfold in front of him. A woman was surrounded by a gang of Augs. His retinal implant scanned the gangbangers, marking their augmentations. Only a few had a combat chassis installed in their arm prosthesis and only one had a limb prosthesis. The quality of their augments was poor, most likely scavenged from other dead Augs.

Adam scanned the woman, frowning when his retinal implant indicated an error in the scanning process. The data was inconsistent, unable to determine what, if any, augmentations she possessed. 

The woman launched herself from the ground, so quickly Adam was startled by her speed. Punching the nearest Banger in the stomach, she took advantage of his incapacity to reach down and snap his neck.

When she dropped the dead Banger on the floor, Adam raised his eyebrows.  The guy’s head was wrenched so far around his body that his chin actually touched his back. That took strength. A lot of strength.

The woman was also extremely fast. And the way she moved. It was obviously she was well-trained in close-quarter combat.

Again, Adam tried to get a reading on her but the data was inconclusive. He was deliberating whether to get involved when a Banger pulled out a gun and shot her. She twisted away at the last moment, the bullet aimed for her stomach instead clipping the side of her hip.

She went down and didn’t get back up again.

A Banger climbed on top of the woman and ground his hips into her back. Adam’s lip curled in disgust. The other Augs were too busy cheering their companion on to notice his presence.

The woman smashed her elbow into the Banger’s nose, and he reeled backwards. Scooping up a dead gangbanger’s gun, Adam shot the guy who’d decided raping the woman was a viable option. His chest exploded, blood showering the concrete.

Adam growled quietly. The guy got off lucky. He detested rapists and wanted to shoot him in the balls to watch him squirm. Would have if he didn’t have to deal with the other assholes.

The other Bangers turned around, staring in open-mouthed astonishment at their fallen friend. The nearest Banger turned his gun around, but before he could aim, Adam sprinted forward, grabbed his organic wrist and snapped it.

Plucking the gun out of his hand neatly, the Banger’s scream slithered out of his throat as he clutched his arm. His hand flapped, the bones in his wrist were shattered. He sunk to his knees, screaming. Adam punched him in the jaw, the sound grating on him.

Engaging his blade, with a burst of speed, he dispatched the other Bangers. It wasn’t difficult, despite their augmentations they had no idea how to really defend themselves. Standing amid the broken bodies, Adam looked around, deliberating on his next course of action. He should call the Police.

Eyes straying over the dead men, Adam wasn’t sure it was the best idea to linger. Dead Augs, some at his own hands. Even with their obvious gang affiliation, he’d be implicated in their deaths. The Police despised Augs even more than the public. Bitterness flowed through his thoughts, tainted by his personal experience.

In their investigation, Adam knew the Police would make an example of him. Of the ‘violence’ Augs were capable of. Nevermind the daily violence others committed against those _with_ augmentations.

The woman groaned, pulling Adam out of his thoughts. Bending down next to her, he lifted her shirt and scanned her injury. Her eyes fluttered before closing, succumbing to unconsciousness.

She was bleeding steadily, had most likely passed out from shock and blood loss. The bullet had entered just above her hipbone. Adam rolled her over gently, relieved to see an exit wound. She was lucky; the bullet likely hadn’t pierced any vital organs.

Adam hesitated. Did he call the Police anonymously then knowingly leave a crime scene? Leave the woman to bleed out and possibly die? Growling irritably, Adam cursed his conscience, annoyed with his moral compass and the incessant need seek justice in every aspect of his life.

“Fucking hell,” Adam muttered as he bent down and picked her up.

Cradling her gently against his chest, he carried her past the bodies without a backwards glance. He _knew_ he’d regret what he was about to do but couldn’t in good conscience leave her there to die.

The first car he approached was an older car, hopefully without the security features attached to most newer models. Their biometric systems were a bitch to bypass and took time. The woman’s head lolled on his shoulder. Time he didn’t have.

Effortlessly balancing the woman in one arm, he used his elbow to smash open the window. Held his breath but no alarm pierced the night. Sliding his hand inside the broken window he reached around until he could jimmy open the inside lock.

Passenger door open, Adam brushed away the glass from the seat before positioning the woman on the seat. Placing a finger over her carotid artery, he detected a heartbeat. Sporadic and weak, but still there.

He couldn’t really feel her pulse. The sensors in his hands and fingers were pressure sensitive. The signals relayed the information to his brain based on what he saw and ‘felt’. Sensory recognition. Adam snorted. Good times.

Driving away from the scene, he wasn’t worried about evidence. He didn’t leave fingerprints. The Cops wouldn’t expend much effort on augmented gangbangers. On the ‘to-be-solved’ list, augmented gangbangers were only slightly above a child molester’s murder. It’d be brushed off as rival gang violence.

On the interstate, Adam turned left towards Sarif Industries instead of Detroit Memorial. The Hospital always reported a gunshot wound to the Police. If the Cops traced her movements back to the crime scene, they might discover his involvement. He couldn’t risk that. Couldn’t risk having Sarif Industries embroiled in a Police investigation.

He flicked his eyes over to the woman again. She was definitely not augmented. Now that he was closer, he could tell. Even flesh colored augmentations weren’t easy to miss. But his HUD was still providing fluctuating readings. Her incredible speed and strength were not normal. Even combat trained, she shouldn’t have moved that fast.

As Adam raced towards Sarif Industries, he activated his InfoLink. “Pritchard, you there?”

“ _Of course Jensen, where else would I be but at your beck and call_?

The sarcastic, nasal reply from Francis Pritchard, head of cyber-security at Sarif Industries, wasn’t unexpected. Anger was quick to the surface. A simple yes would suffice. But Adam just ground his teeth together and ignored the jibe.

“I need you to assemble Doctor Lambert’s team. I’m bringing in a woman, she’s bleeding from … ”

Before Adam could finish, however, Pritchard interjected. “ _Then take her to a hospital, she’s of no concern to Sarif Industries. Or is she a ‘consort’ of yours Jensen? Hmm? Get a little too frisky? She didn’t like banging Robo Cop?_ ”

Adam gripped the steering wheel hard. The plastic cracked and he relaxed his grip. Pitching his voice low, the threat behind his words was unmistakable.

 “Pritchard. Listen to me very carefully. If you don’t have Lambert’s team waiting when I arrive, after I have finished with you, you will require augmentation more extensive than mine to survive. Is that clear enough for you?”

Shocked silence filled his InfoLink, before he heard a few choice words from Pritchard, and a beep signalling the connection had been disabled.

Adam sighed. He didn’t appreciate the man’s incessant need to rile him. Insinuating it was himself that had caused the woman harm was probably why he’d reacted so angrily. Pritchard knew Adam would never force himself on a woman. Knew exactly what to say to get under his skin. Or metal.

Pressing down on the accelerator, he was driving slightly faster than he normally would. In a stolen car nonetheless. But the situation warranted the expediency.

Despite the fact that Pritchard hadn’t actually said he’d have Doctor Lambert on standby, Adam knew the security specialist well enough that his professionalism would override any personal feelings of displeasure.


	5. Chapter 3

The underground parking lot beneath Sarif Industries was almost empty. The monotonous grey of the concrete slabs and pillars were broken up only by yellow painted lines. Even those lines were repetitive, coated every few meters in the large lot. If someone entered the building through the underground, they’d be incorrect in assuming the rest of the building had the same drab interior.

As Adam squealed to a stop, the artificial glare from the florescent lights highlighted the stern expression of the medical team. Getting out of the car, Adam walked around to the passenger door. Doctor Lambert and his team got there first. Adam took a step back when a mobile stretcher was wheeled past him.

The Doctor was murmuring to his team from inside the car. Adam heard snatches of the conversation. Blood loss. Narrow pulse pressure. The team lowered the woman onto the stretcher. The glass doors opened silently as they hurried into the building.

Sarif employed an eclectic team of doctors both to treat staff and for research purposes. Surgeons, Psychiatrists, Geneticists, Neurologists. So there were an abundance of specialists who could deal with the woman’s injuries. But bringing her here, he’d broken numerous laws. And had now made the medical staff accomplices to his crimes. What the hell was he thinking?

“Boss, Mr. Sarif wants to talk to you.”

Trailing behind the stretcher, Adam turned his head to see who had spoken to him. Lyle, one of his security personnel, stood a discreet distance away. Arms behind him, back straight, Adam had never convinced the man to relax his military stance when around him.

Lyle stared steadily at Adam, waiting for a response. Some of his security team had resigned after Panchaea. Some stayed, displaying a loyalty to their posts Adam didn’t expect. Lyle treated him with respect and the due deference his position required. It was something Adam found refreshing. Most days he had to avoid people spitting at him.

Repressing a sigh, Adam nodded. “Thank you Lyle. Please inform Mr. Sarif I’ll be up to see him as soon as I can.”

“Yes sir,” Lyle replied, inclining his head. He didn’t move but continued to stare at Adam.

“Is there something else you wanted to speak to me about?” Adam asked tiredly.

Hesitating, Lyle shifted uncomfortably. “Mr. Sarif wanted me to inform you that he expected to see you as soon as you entered the building. He told me to tell you,” Lyle used his fingers in an air quote, “I’m not happy with your aggressive behavior.”

Adam knew grinding his teeth down hard enough to crack enamel worked well when your first impulse was to swear profusely, and inappropriately, in front of an employee.

His HUD flashed a warning, too much cortisol in his system. He blinked the data away. Yeah he knew he was fucking angry, his implants didn’t need to provide a report on that.

“You’re not required to escort me up to Sarif’s office?” Adam asked, only marginally serious.

“No sir.”

“You can tell Sarif I’m on my way up now,” Adam said to Lyle as calmly as he could.

Lyle inclined his head again and walked away. Scowling, Adam seriously contemplated the merits of stopping by Pritchard’s office. Predictably, Pritchard hadn’t been able to keep his fucking mouth shut and had reported Adam’s threats to Sarif.

Adam could just imagine the glee on Pritchard’s face when he informed Sarif how his wayward employee had once again managed to disregard the rules. By bringing, what Pritchard believed, to be an injured prostitute into Sarif Industries.

Adam considered making his Boss wait until he had confirmation that the woman was in a stable condition. Was even walking towards the medical bay when he reconsidered.

His behavior towards Pritchard and disregarding protocol by bringing the woman here, he knew, would anger Sarif. He needed his Boss onside if he was to argue against handing the woman over to the Police. Until he could talk to her.

So Adam walked towards the elevator and keyed the code to the top floor. Pensively, he watched the floors disappear beneath him through the clear glass. Sarif’s face was still flickering proudly on the enormous LED displays placed strategically in a diagonal pattern in the lobby. At least his Boss had taken down Darrow’s face, with his haughty smile, from the display rotation.

Adam walked past Athene’s empty desk and into Sarif’s office without knocking. Standing with his back to Adam, Sarif was staring out at the expansive view of Detroit from his top floor office. Dawn wasn’t far away, an orange haze dusted the skyline.

Flesh and augmented hand clasped behind him, Sarif’s deceptively relaxed pose didn’t fool Adam. Adam looked past his Boss’s outline to stare out the window. Lights glittered everywhere; from this height office buildings tangled together until their individual features were indistinguishable.

Sarif didn’t acknowledge him, but Adam could almost feel the undercurrent of simmering anger emanating from his Boss. Silence filled the space between them, ticked away by the heavy mantel clock in the far corner of the room.

Squaring his shoulders, his Boss turned around. “Frank spoke to me,” Sarif began, eyeing Adam speculatively.

Sarif’s voice was even but Adam could detect the faint rumble of disapproval in his words. Adam remained quiet, knowing from experience it was easier to talk with his Boss after he’d expelled some of his initial irritation.

His Boss’s normally clean-shaven face had a five o’clock shadow, and his habitually immaculate attire was wrinkled. When Sarif rubbed his augmented hand over his face, Adam noted how tired he looked. He wondered what his Boss was even doing at the office so early in the morning. If he went home at all.

“You threatened Frank. I had to talk him out of reporting you.”

Adam rolled his eyes. Not that his Boss could tell behind his glasses.

“That’s a relief,” Adam replied, unable to keep the scorn out of his voice.

Sarif crossed his arms and glared at Adam, ignoring the sarcasm. “What the hell were you thinking Adam?”

Clenching his jaw, Adam tried counting backwards. That didn’t work. He then pictured his fist smashing into the computer specialist’s jaw. A smile ghosted over his face before he could stop it. Sarif frowned, noticing.

“I’m glad this is amusing to you Adam,” Sarif snapped.

No, it wasn’t. It was his errant thoughts regarding violence toward Pritchard which were amusing. Adam rolled his shoulders irritably but didn’t respond.

Sarif placed both hands on his desk, sharp blue eyes roving over his face. Adam could almost feel the physical weight of that gaze, probing for weaknesses. Adam schooled his expression into neutrality. Sarif’s social enhancement would get little from him.

“I know you…” Sarif started, looked away, a flush creeping up his neck. Blowing out a breath, he continued, unable to look Adam in the eye. “I know you have needs Adam. I’m not sure what happened with this…woman…but you cannot bring her here. It’s on your personal time so I won’t comment on….”

Adam’s snort of disbelief interrupted Sarif. “She is _not_ a prostitute,” he snapped.

Well at least Adam didn’t think she was.

Sarif looked at him sharply, relief etched on his face. Embarrassment swirled between them, settling uncomfortably over both men. Adam couldn’t believe Sarif thought he’d hired a prostitute.

His Boss looked at him expectantly, waiting for Adam to be more forthcoming in his explanation. Looking out the window, Adam took his time replying. Not trying to be deliberately misleading, Adam decided to be more _economical_ with his words. He’d provide Sarif with the briefest of explanations, play on his empathy.

“I couldn’t sleep so went for a walk. I came upon this woman being attacked by a bunch of augmented gangbangers. One of them shot her. I had to help otherwise they would have killed her. I couldn’t just leave her there. You know what first responders are like these days. Since….” Adam hesitated, refusing to reference the name of the Artic station which had caused so many issues.

 _Since Panchaea_. The word echoed around the room, both men aware of what Adam was about to say but studiously ignoring the slip.

“Dispatch hears the area I’m in and inevitably tune out. Even if they did get around to sending someone, she might have bled out. I couldn’t leave her to die,” Adam explained.

“But why not take her to a hospital?”

Adam let out a scoff. “Sure, I’ll just saunter into the E.R and place a gunshot victim on a gurney and ask politely if they could ignore my presence. And if they’d be so kind as to delete any security footage of me in case the Cops come sniffing around. Or should I have dumped her out the moving, and stolen car, and hope no one notices as I screech away?”

The side of Sarif’s mouth dipped down to highlight an increasingly sour expression. “Sarcasm is beneath you Adam.”

Adam didn’t agree with that assessment but refrained from saying so. Sarif grabbed a baseball from his desk and rolled it around his palm.

“What happened to the gangbangers?” Sarif asked warily.

Adam shifted uncomfortably. He knew Sarif would ask.

“Dead.”

Annoyance rippled across Sarif’s face before he schooled his expression into its normal impassivity.

“Did anyone see you?”

Adam sighed irritably. “I’ve been doing this a while Boss, give me a bit of credit.”

Sarif bent him a glare. “So you killed them and walked away from a crime scene?” Sarif summarized, already knowing the answer but obviously unable to avoid indicating his displeasure at Adam’s actions.

“No,” Adam corrected, “I killed some. The woman had killed a few before I intervened.”

Surprise flashed over Sarif’s face. “She killed augmented gangbangers? Was she armed or is she augmented herself?”

After a brief hesitation, Adam was forced to concede he couldn’t answer the question with anything but the truth.

“No,” he answered reluctantly.

Sarif frowned at him. “I don’t like this. You took an unnecessary risk son. I understand you want to help people but it can’t be to your detriment. Or Sarif Industries. You know we’ve been under pressure to shut down our production line. Any small thing, including a Police investigation, could put us over the edge. ”

Nodding in agreement, he replied, “I know Boss. It’s why I brought her here. Just let her recover. I doubt she’s eager to go to the Cops either.”

Sarif ceased rolling the ball in his palm, mouth tightening into what Adam knew would be disagreement before Sarif could utter the words. He didn’t need his Social Enhancer to know what his Boss was thinking.

Adam clicked back his glasses and locked eyes with Sarif. The force of their not insignificant wills locked like a battling elks antlers. The potency of their stubbornness made the room feel like a pressure sensitive explosive. The slightest touch, the wrong word and both men might explode.

Considering the blurred lines of their personal and professional relationship, it was difficult to gauge how to react in these situations. Friend or employee. Equal or subordinate. It wasn’t an easy balance to maintain.

“What if the Police _do_ come sniffing around?” Sarif asked, voice edged with concern.

Sarif wasn’t usually neurotic about Adam keeping within the confines of the law, so it surprised him to hear genuine anxiety in his Boss’s voice.

“They won’t. Trust me,” Adam intoned, deliberately evoking the sacrosanct word neither of them dared use. Trust.

A shadow passed over his Boss’s face, his blue eyes darting away from Adam’s in discomfort. Clicking his shades back over his eyes, a surge of triumph had him struggling to keep his lips from curling up into a smile.

“Fine,” Sarif relented, waving his augmented hand.

“Thanks Boss,” Adam said, quickly turning around to stride out of the room.

Sarif spoke again before he reached the door. “Did this woman have I.D on her? Do you know who she is?”

Adam grimaced, but when he turned back to look at Sarif, his face betrayed none of the resignation he felt.

“No. She had nothing on her.”

Sarif frowned. “Well you need to find out. _Before_ you go home. Oh, and apologize to Frank. That’s not negotiable Adam,” Sarif said firmly, steel winding through his words.

Adam nodded his acquiesce even though he’d rather cut out his own tongue than ask for forgiveness from the little weasel. He knew how to skirt the edges of Sarif’s patience, knew when he could be negotiated with. So Adam recognized that the hard lines around Sarif’s mouth meant that he’d reached the end of his tolerance.

“No problem,” Adam replied, careful to keep his tone respectful.

_/_I_/_

The soft hum of computers combined with the tapping of his metallic fingers on the desk finally penetrated through his troubled thoughts. Adam ceased the tapping immediately, thoroughly annoyed with the incessant sound.

Adam sat in his office, multi-tasking. Actually, if he was being honest with himself, he was brooding after the argument with Sarif. He hadn’t lied, just adjusted the amount of information provided. Right, that’s what every liar said.

Adam sighed, shifted the chair back to retrieve the bottle of expensive Scotch he kept in his bottom drawer. The amber liquid sloshing around in the half-empty bottle looked tempting.

A beep from his computer had Adam giving the bottle a longing look before stashing it back into his drawer. Deactivating the screen saver, Adam swore quietly when the search yielded no results. He was trying to discover the woman’s identity, but with no I.D, he knew the basic search wouldn’t be successful.

Tapping on the glass keyboard, Adam thought about his meeting with Sarif. His Boss had refrained from lecturing him about how inappropriate it was for him to threaten Pritchard. In truth, he deserved a reprimand but it didn’t make him feel any more charitable towards the security analyst.

For now, Adam’s mystery woman was allowed to stay and recuperate from her wounds. However, Adam needed to discover her identity. In the event that she was a ‘problem’. Translation: Sarif suspected she was a criminal. Adam accepted this as his penance for his aggressive behaviour.

His phone rang and Adam picked the receiver up absently.

“ _Adam? This is Doctor Lambert. I’m just calling to let you know we’ve just come out of surgery_.”

Adam looked over at the digital clock on his desk and frowned. They hadn’t been in there long. He swallowed nervously, expecting bad news. He opened his mouth to ask but the Doctor continued.

“ _The woman is in recovery now_.”

His shoulders slumped in relief. If she’d died, Adam had no idea how the hell would he have explained the situation to the Police.

“Is she okay?” Adam asked warily.

There was a significant pause. “ _Yes. It was just a flesh wound. The bullet entered just above her hipbone, but didn’t pierce bone or any major organs. Clean exit wound too. Some blood loss but not enough to require a transfusion. Overall, the young woman was very lucky.”_

Frowning, Adam detected something in the Doctor’s tone. His normally steady voice held a slight tremor. What was it? Confusion? Nervousness?

“Thanks Doc. Is everything okay?”

“ _No problem Adam_ ,” the Doctor replied in a falsely bright voice. “ _I just need to run further tests, make sure there’s no complications. I‘ll get back to you when I find something_.”

The Doctor hung up. Adam pulled the receiver away from his ear and stared at it. _When_ he found something? Not if. Choice of words or his natural inclination to be suspicious of everyone?

Adam replaced the receiver and dismissed the conversation from his mind. Cracking his neck, Adam stood up and stretched. Cursing, he realized he’d forgotten to dispose of the stolen car still parked in the underground lot. He made a mental note to deal with it later.

Walking out of his office, he went down to the cafeteria and ordered two coffees. Heading back upstairs, he detoured around his office towards another on the same floor. Walking into Pritchard’s office without knocking was a small act of defiance he couldn’t resist. Pritchard hated being disturbed, especially when the person didn’t announce themselves.

Pritchard flicked his eyes up over the screen but didn’t acknowledge him. Adam placed the plastic coffee cup in front of Pritchard and moved back. Pritchard stopped typing, eyes skimming over the lid before he scowled and looked back at the screen. The coffee was Adam’s version of a peace offering. Pritchard was a caffeine addict.

“Come to make good on your promise Jensen?” Pritchard asked gratingly.

Adam sipped the coffee, the hot liquid scalding his tongue. It served as a good distraction, considering his first reaction was to respond with biting sarcasm. No, he was here to mend bridges and all that shit.

Adam felt his lips stretch in a forced smile. “Of course not. I’m here to apologize.”

The last words rolled out of his mouth and he _just_ stopped himself from grimacing. Frank’s head snapped up and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Settling back into his chair, a sagacious grin split Pritchard’s face wide open.

“Sarif make you?” Pritchard taunted.

Adam held himself immobile and ignored the remark. Seconds ticked by, but Adam stood statue-still. Pritchard’s smile faltered as Adam continued to stare at him.

With over fifty percent of his body augmented, including limbs and vital organs, Adam had the ability to remain utterly motionless. Augmentations didn’t require the constant movement flesh did. Limbs twitched, muscles spasmed, skin itched. Humans needed to move constantly to keep the blood flowing, augmentations did not.

Adam was aware that his stillness unnerved people, but it wasn’t always something he did consciously. However, at other times, he deliberately used this ability to appear like a statue to intimidate others. And it was working on Pritchard, who was no longer smiling but shooting him nervous glances.

“Sarif asked me to look into the woman’s identity. I haven’t found anything. I need the ‘Hunter’ program to widen my search.”

Pritchard was a grey hat hacker. In his official capacity, he was a computer security expert, but while Adam was on missions, Pritchard often had to illegally access sensitive databases to assist him. While he respected Pritchard’s ability and expertise, it was his personality which Adam couldn’t fathom. Pritchard was prickly, rude, demanding and appeared to have no sense of humor.

Scowling, Pritchard shook his head. His black hair tied up at the back of his hair swinging with the movement.

“You need my program to find a prostitute’s name? Short on dates Jensen?” Pritchard sneered.

Adam crossed his arms, a long-suffering sigh escaping. “She’s not a prostitute.”

Pritchard smirked, clearly not believing him.

“Sarif wants this woman identified. She had no I.D on her so the only way to discover anything is to use ‘Hunter’. But if you want to call Sarif and explain to him the reasons for denying me access, that’s fine.”

Pritchard stiffened and shot Adam a contemptuous look. Pritchard was a professional and detested insubordination. Adam knew by mentioning Sarif’s order, Pritchard would be unable to refuse.

The program was genius really, although Adam was unlikely to tell Francis that. Developed by Pritchard, ‘Hunter’ was a highly illegal software designed to worm it’s way into a number of worldwide databases, such as the FBI, Homeland Security, DOD, and lesser known agencies.

Ripping open the drawer next to him, Pritchard retrieved a thumb drive and tossed it at Adam, who caught it neatly.

“Give it back when you’re finished and don’t make a copy. I’ll know if you do,” Pritchard snarled.

“Thanks Francis. Enjoy your coffee,” Adam intoned, the sarcasm barely even perceptible.

Back in his office, Adam installed the program and left his desk to attend to his other duties. He returned a few hours later, pleased to find the program had returned results. Opening up the file, he clicked on the picture. Staring out at him from the screen was the woman who was now unconscious in the medical bay.

Scanning the information, Adam was disconcerted to find the program had returned so little information. But he had her name, Madison Turner, and that was a start.

Clicking on another file, he read her background with interest. Joined the Army at age 18. Scored in the top percentile in marksmanship and combat. He grunted, that explained her skill. Didn’t necessarily explain her speed.

Rose to the rank of Lieutenant. Recruited into the highly specialized Black Ops Augmentation Division. She wasn’t augmented so Adam wondered how she’d kept up with her co-workers.

Her parents were deceased; Father had been an Army Major, Mother a civilian Army chef. Madison had seen action in different parts of the world, but those files were highly classified so it wasn’t a surprise they couldn’t be accessed.

What piqued Adam’s interest were the pending indictments. She was charged with desertion after failing to report for duty eight months ago. Adam narrowed his eyes as he scrolled over the next screen. Military Police also sought the woman’s whereabouts in regards to an internal ongoing investigation. Really?

The information, rather than enlightening him, generated more questions. Why had she deserted? Why were the Military Police after her? And how did she have the strength to snap a man’s neck so far around it sat almost on his back?

“Who the hell are you?” Adam asked the screen.

While Adam was saving the file, his phone rang. Distractedly, he picked it up, expecting it to be one of his men reporting an issue. He was surprised when he heard Doctor Lambert’s voice on the other end.


	6. Chapter 4

“ _Adam? I’m glad I caught you. I was wondering if you could make a trip down to my office_?” Doctor Lambert asked, nervously clearing his throat.

“Sure Doc, what’s wrong?” Adam asked.

“ _It’s about the young woman you brought to us. I completed a full blood workup. I, er, also did a few additional tests as some of the preliminary results indicated there were some abnormalities. If you could just come down here, I really need to discuss these results with you_.”

Adam’s attention wavered between the Doctor’s conversation and the file. But when he mentioned ‘abnormal results’, his concentration sharpened.

“What kind of abnormal results?”

There was a lengthy pause in which Adam could hear the Doctor’s labored breathing.

“ _I’d rather not discuss them over the phone. Please, just come to my office_ ,” Doctor Lambert pleaded, and hung up before Adam could question him further.

Adam pulled the receiver away from his ear and frowned at the dial tone. He blinked a few times before placing it back on his desk.

Walking out of the office, he pressed the button to the elevator. As it slid smoothly to a stop the reflective glass threw back his own perplexed expression. Hitting the button, Adam leaned against the elevator’s interior as he travelled down to the sub-basement level where the medical bay was.

Raking his polymer hand over his beard, the pressure sensors fed the information to his brain about what he should be feeling. His stomach clenched when he struggled to remember what the real sensation felt like.

The bristled hair as it scratched against his fingers was a sensation he had taken for granted. The perfunctory action was so ingrained, now when he did it unconsciously, it only served as a reminder that he’d never feel that sensation again.

While he’d physically adapted to his augmentations, Adam still believed he struggled psychologically. He had to admit, event to himself, that without them he could not have tracked and rescued Megan’s team. Conversely, he probably wouldn’t have needed the augmentations if Megan hadn’t discovered an anomaly in his DNA.

Adam sighed, round and round it went, a paradox of questions, answers and more questions. After Panchaea, he’d deliberated on whether to return to work at Sarif Industries. He had seriously contemplated disappearing. Packing up the few belongings he needed and moving without anyone knowing where he went. The few attachments he had, Malik, Sarif, the few cops who still talked to him, would probably miss him, but would eventually get on with their own lives.

He’d struggled with the decision. Disappear or return to work for the man he didn’t know if he could really trust? Most people would call him a fool for continuing to work for Sarif Industries. Would wonder why he’d surround himself with people who’d manipulated and lied to him. But Adam had his reasons.

Out there, the Illuminate continued to plot, manipulate and control the masses. They’d infiltrated government, corporations and influential industries. If he was to even _attempt_ to stop their influence and discover who was behind the shadowy organization, he’d need a powerful body behind him. At the moment, Sarif Industries was that body. He couldn’t investigate on his own, he needed resources and connections, and Sarif gave him that.

Growling quietly to himself, Adam opened and closed his hand, watching the metal seamlessly follow the command from his brain. While no longer bitterly angry about his augmentations, he still felt a lingering sense of resentment and betrayal.

Those first few months after his procedure were the hardest. Hearing that over half his body had been replaced with metal had caused an almost catatonic state. He’d refused any sustenance, declined to speak to anyone for weeks.

Depression set in, the loathing and repugnance he felt toward himself almost driving him towards suicide. Adam shifted uncomfortably as he remembered the battle he’d had to retain a semblance of himself after the surgery.

_/_I_/_

_The machines emitted a steady whir, filling the background with their continual sound.  There was a harmonic rhythm to the way each machine synchronised. Hiss and beep. Hiss and beep._

_The white chrome floors were immaculate, the drab grey walls pristine. Disinfectant clouded the air, saturating the room to an extent that bacteria wouldn’t dream of calling the spotless interior home._

_Adam sat on the edge of the bed, broodily quiet. Today he was being discharged. Not that he cared. When Doctor Lambert tottered in, that placating smile etched like a drawing on his face, to inform Adam of his discharge, he’d reacted with marked indifference by shrugging._

_No that wasn’t true. He’d felt something. A stab of willful pleasure seeing the Doctor’s light-bulb smile flicker out and eventually fade as Adam stared at him with his lip curled in aversion._

_This dreary hospital room had been his home for weeks. At first, the monotony had angered him. Waking up to the same tedium every day, staring at the same unadorned white walls, had caused a broiling anger he dealt with by throwing every vase. The flowers had splattered on the wall, dribbling laboriously until he felt a surge of satisfaction. At least then he’d created his own splashes of color._

_Physically he felt fine. Psychologically, he still felt balanced on a knife’s edge. While the Doctors were concerned for his mental health, and were reluctant to discharge him, they were concerned he wouldn’t progress sitting idle in a hospital room. And now Sarif had a nice new apartment for Adam, a shiny new toy to distract him._

_Adam didn’t like the person he’d been forced to become. He didn’t recognize himself. His anger bubbled just beneath the surface. Most days he felt like an active volcano, spilling lava on unsuspecting Doctors, Nurses and well-wishers. They’d soon stopped coming after his broody silences or scathing sarcasm._

_Strangely, the only person unaffected by his moods was Pritchard, who matched his surly tone with one of his own. He’d visited yesterday, to Adam’s displeasure. Adam snorted, remembering that conversation…._

_“Jensen,” Pritchard barked in his no-nonsense tone as he walked in without preamble. “Mr. Sarif told me you’re being released tomorrow. Good, you’ve had enough sick leave as it is. You need to start being useful again.”_

_Adam bared his teeth in undisguised agitation. Engaging his wrist blade Adam angled it toward the security analyst._

_“Shall I cut some fruit for you? Is that useful enough? Or would you like me to slice open someone’s throat? That might be a better use of the weaponry melded to my skin.”_

_Pritchard’s eyes flitted to the blade then back at Adam, clearly unimpressed. “Try coconut’s Jensen. Slicing the average banana isn’t a good use of those expensive augmentations.”_

_Disengaging his blade, Adam glared at Pritchard. “Coconuts are easier to slice into than a man’s skull. Just as messy though,” Adam remarked mildly._

_Pritchard rolled his eyes, clearly not intimidated by Adam’s subtle threat. “What did you want Francis?” Adam asked bluntly._

_“Mr. Sarif wants to hire some new security personnel. I’d like you to look over the applications.”_

_Adam snorted. “Fuck off Francis, I’m still on sick leave.”_

_Pritchard clicked his tongue. “You don’t have the flu. You just need to learn how to operate your new augments. So while you’re doing that you can at least look through a tablet.”_

_Adam didn’t say anything. Sarcasm wasn’t working, Pritchard was too good at deflecting it with his own acerbity. So Adam attempted a different approach. Silence._

_Blowing out an exasperated breath Pritchard flipped him off. “Come on Jensen, they replaced your limbs, not your brain. I don’t know what to look for in security personnel and I’m sick of picking up your slack.”_

_Adam stilled, anger spiking in his system so fast he had to physically grip the frame to keep from leaping from the bed and strangling Pritchard. The bed groaned as the metal bent from the pressure he exerted. The security analyst jumped, taking a step backwards. Finally, a reaction. Adam’s HUD flashed, picking up the fear in Pritchard’s physiology._

_Anger pulled Pritchard’s already taught expression into something laughably pinched. “I won’t take shit from you. Not like everyone else. Treat them however you like but I_ won’t _pander to you and your moods.”_

_With a contemptuously haughty shake of his head, Pritchard turned around and walked out. An abrasive laugh worked up his throat, spilling out into a dry chortle of amusement._

_“Yeah, fuck you too,” Adam muttered to the closed door as he looked down and disengaged his fingers from the metal railing._

_“Are you talking to me?” Malik asked, a frown contouring her genial expression._

_Adam jerked, he didn’t hear the pilot enter. He looked up at her, saw the hurt confusion on her face. Why Malik continued visited, despite his obstinately rude silences, Adam didn’t know._

_The first time he was informed of his augmentations his mood had spiralled uncontrollably. He’d refused to talk to anyone, the bitterness and self-loathing too much to cope with. So he’d retreated within himself, put up a mental barrier and didn’t allow anyone or anything to penetrate it._

_He didn’t know if they gave him medication or whether his mental health improved slowly, but Adam finally found his way back from the silence. It wasn’t that he couldn’t hear people speaking to him, he just didn’t know how to respond. Or why he should bother._

_Through all that, Malik came to sit with him. She didn’t put any pressure on him to speak, but her quiet presence was a balm on his anger. She didn’t ask him endlessly stupid questions like the parade of medical professionals. Her quiet support came in the form of her company, not any expectation she had on him to get ‘better’._

_“No, Malik, I’m speaking to the asshole who just left.”_

_Raising her eyebrow, Malik chuckled. “That wouldn’t be Frank you’re talking about?”_

_Adam snorted. “You got it in one.”_

_Hesitating, Malik walked into the room and sat down on the chair near his bed. “I heard a rumor you’re due to be released tomorrow.”_

_Adam nodded. Malik just smiled and handed him a tablet. “This is your new apartment. You can flick through the layout on the app. I’ve just come from there. I left some groceries, namely Captain Choc.”_

_“Thanks Malik,” Adam responded, genuinely touched by her thoughtfulness._

_Shrugging, she smiled again. “Anytime.”_

_Adam watched Malik walk towards the door, swishing open without a sound …._

_Those same doors opened, startling Adam out of his musing. Looking up he saw Doctor Lambert standing just inside the room, eyeing him warily._

_“You can go home now Mr. Jensen,” Doctor Lambert said stiffly. Adam swore he saw relief flash over the Doctor’s face._

_Sarif escorted him to his new apartment, trying to engage him in conversation but Adam stubbornly refused to be drawn into any dialogue._

_Upon being introduced to his new apartment in the Chiron building, fitted with modern amenities and the latest in biometric home security, Adam felt nothing but indifference. Indifference towards the aesthetically pleasing fixtures Sarif had a decorator outfit the apartment with, indifference to the beautiful Renaissance-style arched windows, and indifference to the uninhibited view of the Detroit skyline._

_The only thing that sparked anything but a feeling of indifference was seeing his whole life uncaringly packed away into dozens of boxes. That caused a deep sadness. If only his feelings could be as neatly compartmentalized._

_When Sarif disappeared outside to take a call, Adam opened the first box he came across. He accidently used too much strength and ripped open the cardboard box so that the contents spilled out._

_All his augmentations were carefully calibrated, something the L.I.M.B specialists had made sure of before he’d left. Adam just wasn’t used to tempering his strength._

_There were too many reminders for him to ever truly forget his augmentations. Every time he glanced down, the black polymer winked back as it caught the light, mocking him. The masses of data fed through his InfoLink reminded him almost every moment of how vastly different he’d become._

_No human should have access to the amount of information provided by his retinal prosthesis. It felt like cheating, as if he didn’t have to work for anything anymore._

_Looking over at the coffee table, his retinal prosthesis analyzed everything. The diameter, width, height, type of wood, weakness in structure, the lacquer used and even the shop it came from. Including the year, how many were in production, and so on. And that was just for a fucking coffee table._

_Sighing deeply, he flipped open the cardboard box, more careful this time. Peering into it, an icy shock crashed through his veins when he saw a photograph of Megan and himself. It was taken a few years before. He remembered the day well. They’d just had lunch with friends, and Megan had wanted to take a stroll in the park. She’d asked a stranger to take a picture of them. He shook his head, he looked happy, was even smiling._

_Adam reached down to skate his fingers over the glass, but pressed too hard, heard the distinct crack as the glass splintered. Withdrawing his hand as if it’d been burnt, which he supposed wasn’t far from an accurate deduction, Adam stepped back and shut the lid. Watched as the rest of the box tumbled to the floor._

_He didn’t open any more, preferring to leave his human life packed away, the physical aspect stored in boxes. It was his past, a time when he knew exactly who he was,_ what _he was._

_When Sarif stepped back inside, he had shown Adam around the apartment. Adam couldn’t bring himself to comment. Sarif’s dignified and calm manner pissed him off._

_Adam had tried everything to push his Boss away. Yelling, swearing, accusing and finally silence. Silence worked the best. It filled the space between them much better than any words he could ever utter. The silent accusations followed Sarif around like smoke, lingeringly oppressive and just as detrimental as the erosive effects of his anger._

_When Sarif left, Adam felt loneliness well up inside him. He hated being around people, hated their sympathetic looks and well-meaning but entirely useless assertions. But now that he was alone, he couldn’t stand the silence either._

_Secluded inside his apartment, day and night blended seamlessly, a never-ending rotation of emotional turbulence in the form of bitterness, depression, anger and resentment. His entire world collapsed into the square foot of his apartment._

_He truly saw himself as inhuman. How could he be anything else? Most people replaced a limb or maybe an internal organ. Those people could still be called human. A body with over half its biological matter replaced with an inorganic substance couldn’t really be called human. At least not in the truest sense of the word._

_Adam smoked a lot, and drank bottle after bottle of poor quality Scotch. He found out pretty quickly that his Sentinel Health Implant cancelled out the alcohol’s destructive properties. So he tried to mute its effectiveness by drinking copious amount of hard liquor. That didn’t work. But with cigarettes, at least he could feel the acidic burn as it laced his artificial lungs. He couldn’t get lung cancer so what did it matter if he smoked?_

_The prescription for Neuropozyne sat on the counter top, the small orange bottle mocking him every time he looked at it. But he didn’t move it. It was such an innocuous item, but to Adam the significance were the pills inside the bottle. Reminding him of the humanity stripped from him by those who ‘knew better’._

_Adam wasn’t even aware of his downward spiral. His perpetually dark thoughts and even darker moods fit the self-deprecating vibe he was aiming for. He sat there drinking, smoking and hating himself. Each day scraped away his reserves until he began to truly wonder about the statistical aspects of suicide._

_He didn’t eat, drank only Scotch and hardly slept. He ignored Pritchard’s attempts to ping him on his InfoLink. At least he could turn it off, not be disturbed if he didn’t want to. Malik had tried to visit but Adam had ignored her. He didn’t want to be rude to her and if he let her in, he knew that he’d snap at her. So while he felt like an asshole ignoring her attempts to reach out, ultimately he was saving her from being hurt._

_He probably should have known Sarif would surface like a cockroach. Adam had ignored everyone else, but Sarif, who didn’t understand boundaries anyway, thought Adam would be happy to see him walk through his apartment door as if it was_ his _home._

_When Adam heard the door open he looked up, watching Sarif walk in, in all his splendor, and stand at the edge of the room. Adam took a long drag on his cigarette, removed it from his mouth and settled it between his fingers._

_“It’s good practice,” Adam addressed his Boss, his normally gravelly tones actually rasping from disuse._

_He held the delicately smouldering cigarette between his fingers, the smoke curling around his hand. Adam bared his teeth in an unpleasant smirk._

_Sarif shoved his hands into his vest pocket and flicked his gaze over to the cigarette, watching the smoke drift lazily into the air._

_“If I can hold a cigarette I can touch someone’s hand without breaking every bone,” Adam clarified, his voice steadying, enough to at least detect the subtle hints of anger vibrating with each word._

_His Boss wasn’t stupid enough to comment on the unhealthiness of cigarette smoke, but his disapproval was obvious in the way he shifted his eyes between Adam and the offending object._

_“To what do I owe this pleasure,” Adam asked, not even remotely interested in Sarif’s reasons for dropping by._

_“I’m just checking on you Adam. You’ve ignored Frank’s attempts to contact you. You won’t answer the door for Malik. So I had no choice but to let myself in.”_

_His laugh came out like a mocking parody of amusement._

_“By all means Sarif. You own the apartment floor. And at least fifty percent of the inorganic material welded to my body. So after all what’s mine is yours,” Adam chuckled darkly._

_Taking a drag on his cigarette, he held the smoke inside his throat, watching the anger ripple over Sarif’s expression. Blowing the smoke out, Adam flicked his glasses over his eyes, his HUD telling him all sorts of interesting information about Sarif’s mood, temperature, increase in hormones and every other physiological reaction._

_“Dammit Adam, that’s not true and you know it,” Sarif snapped._

_Adam bent his Boss a cynical grin. “Whatever you say Boss.”_

_Sarif lasered him with a stare, frustration slowly bleeding into his blue eyes. “There are people around you who want to help. You’re alienating everyone.”_

_“Not you,” Adam remarked sourly._

_Taking three quick steps towards him, Sarif lent over his seated figure. Adam took another drag on his cigarette before lifting his head lazily._

_“You’re not the only one who lost something or someone that day,” Sarif insisted, pointing his finger._

_Adam stood up, obviously faster than he realized because Sarif flinched at his proximity._

_“Right. But everyone else didn’t have their arms and legs cut off and most of their internal organs replaced. So don’t make comparisons with my grief,” Adam sneered at the word, “and other people’s.”_

_Sarif let out a low rumble of aggravation. “Wallow in self-pity all you want, but YOU are alive while others aren’t.”_

_Adam flinched. Yes, he was alive, although not by choice. He hadn’t forgotten the scientists who died on_ his _watch. He couldn’t even review footage of the night of the attack, the cameras had been deliberately disabled. So he couldn’t even discover where he’d gone wrong._

_But maybe, and Adam wouldn’t admit this to his Boss, just maybe, Sarif was right about his personal pity party. He hadn’t forgotten the men and women who had died that night. But he’d been so involved with his own emotional turmoil their deaths hadn’t been as prominent in his mind as they should have been._

_“People I cared…” Sarif’s voice cracked with emotion, but he squared his shoulders and continued, “People I cared about died that night too. Don’t you think I don’t have this gut-wrenching guilt over the lives lost? That I wouldn’t trade anything to get them back. Megan was..”_

_“Shut up Sarif. Just shut the fuck up,” Adam exploded when he heard Megan’s name._

_Rounding on his Boss, he stalked towards him, anger burning like a cancer in his body, forcing its way through his system until it razed every other emotion. Sarif recoiled from his advance, fear rippling over his expression._

_That reaction filtered through the red haze surrounding his mind, stopping him abruptly. Shame gripped him, at the thought that he’d made Sarif fear him. Despite his Boss’s faults, Adam would never harm him._

_Adam knew he had to be careful, this strength and speed were too new and untested for him to allow anger free reign. Especially since he had the ability to kill someone so easily now._

_Taking a deep breath, Adam calmed himself with difficulty. “Don’t mention her to me,” he said softly, menace sliding behind his words._

_“You don’t have the monopoly on pain, son. I lost her too. I would have lost you as well if I didn’t make the decision to augment you.”_

_Adam bared his teeth. “Don’t use that excuse. Don’t use your ‘grief’ or whatever the fuck you want to call it, as a justification for taking away my right to choose what I wanted to do with_ my _body.”_

_Sarif walked up to him until there was barely an inch between them. His chest rose and fell in agitated successions, his eyes sparking like chips of ice._

_“And you’d be dead now,” Sarif surmised bluntly, “if I hadn’t made that call. Whatever you might think of me, all I was thinking about was saving your life. You’re alive for a reason Adam. If you didn’t have such a strong will to live I’d have buried another friend.”_

_Taking a deep breath, Sarif stepped back. “You want to sit around here brooding, trying unsuccessfully to drink yourself to death, go ahead. But, if you can get past this self-loathing you might realize that you have the means and the ability to avenge Megan’s death.”_

_Adam looked at his Boss sharply. Clarity sparked, hitting him with the same intensity as a bolt of electricity. He wasn’t sure he could ever forgive Sarif for making the decision to augment him, but he was right in one respect. If he could hone his body, become the weapon Sarif made him, he could compete against the assholes who attacked them._

_It had already been proven that he was no match for the augmented soldiers who’d stormed Sarif Industries. His body had been broken, fractured, and torn in every possible way while the other guy had barely even worked up a sweat. Now, he was on even ground._

_The need for revenge struck him with the same deadly force and potent poison as a cobra. It sunk it’s fangs in deep and injected a powerful motivator; retribution._

_“You’d sanction that? A revenge crusade,” Adam asked with a touch of incredulity in his voice._

_Sarif shrugged. “Unofficially, yes. But you’d need to learn to work those augmentations first.”_

_And with those words, a determination had been driven inside his chest like a stake….._

It wasn’t a simple matter of brushing aside his revulsion for his new body, adapting without setbacks. He felt like an infant again, learning to use his body. Frustration with the slow progress and the continued emotional turmoil was a massive obstacle. But he learned to live with the discontent, and if not accept his new body, then at least tolerate who he’d become.

Whether Sarif had manipulated him that day by playing on his emotional vulnerabilities, Adam wasn’t sure. But Sarif had given him purpose. A way to think about something else besides the abhorrence for what he’d become.

Revenge hadn’t been a motivating factor in his existence for a while. Still not entirely comfortable as an Aug, he did acknowledge that life was always preferable to death. He needed to move on from the anger he’d carried with him for a long time. 

He owed his life to Sarif, not just after the attacks but after his surgery. He was so close to spiralling, another week of those dark thoughts and Adam wasn’t sure if suicide wouldn’t have been a vague idea, but instead become an actuality.

As the elevator signalled he’d come to the right floor, Adam stepped off and briskly walked towards Doctor Lambert’s office. He rolled his head, trying to push aside his unbidden trip down memory lane and concentrate on the Doctor’s findings.

Refusing to disclose more information ’over the phone’, Doctor Lambert sounded like a paranoid nutcase worried about who was listening. What the hell had gotten him so worked up?

Doctor Lambert stood with his back to Adam, engrossed in an X-Ray lit up against the back wall of his office. Adam knocked lightly on the open door, his mouth twitching when Lambert jumped at the interruption. Seeing it was Adam, the Doctor adjusted his glasses and gave him a tight smile. Like a live wire, his very being seemed to be sparking with a suppressed excitement.

Doctor Lambert motioned to the chair opposite his desk, so Adam complied by sitting. The Doctor remained on his feet, hands clasped in front of him.

Lean and wiry, with hair that would be called salt-and-pepper rather than grey, Adam placed the Doctor’s age at around mid-50’s. He wore the biggest pair of spectacles Adam had ever seen. It made his brown eyes look larger than they were supposed to. Adam always had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being studied by a microscope when the Doctor looked at him.

Adam mostly steered clear of the Doctor, preferring to have minimal contact with those who had made the decision to augment him ‘to save his life’. Lambert completed all of Adam’s physicals, which were required by David, so Adam couldn’t completely avoid him.

The Doctor went to the door, poked his head out, looked both ways before closing it with a resounding click. Adam watched the Doctor in bemusement as he returned to his desk and sat down.

“I promise I’m not wearing a wire Doc,” Adam retorted.

The Doctor flinched, covered the response with a hollow laugh. Most of the time, the Doctor was quiet and complacent by nature, and had a very unassuming air about him. It was what made him such a good physician.

Today was different. The Doctor was unable to settle, and Adam watched slightly amused as he sat down and fidgeted in his chair.

Activating his C.A.S.I.E. implant, Adam scanned the Doctor with his retinal enhancement, scrolling through the data. The implant gave him an in-depth display of the Doctor’s physical reactions and mental state. He’d become adept at analyzing the information, making discussions like this far more ‘diplomatic’.

Adam narrowed his eyes critically as his HUD flashed information about the Doctor’s physical response. His heart rate was accelerated, and Adam’s own enhanced eyesight could pick up the tiny beads of sweat on his forehead.

“How’s Madison?” Adam asked.

“Madison?” Doctor Lambert asked, clearly confused.

Adam shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Right, he’d made a few ‘discreet’ enquiries into the woman’s background. But the Doctor didn’t need to know this.

“Yeah, I managed to find out her name,” Adam replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

Doctor Lambert stared at him expectantly. When Adam simply started back, Lambert’s eyes darted away. Coughing into his hand, when the Doctor looked up Adam saw a flash of defiance in the Doctor’s eyes. Adam’s HUD flashed a warning. Lambert’s adrenaline spiked.

It was so tempting to use the pheromone inducer during difficult conversations. But Adam always resisted, hating the thought of chemical manipulation. The serum didn’t alter higher cognitive functions like sedatives or hypnotics did, but Adam still felt the artificial means altered another’s discourse unfairly. Using the pheromones, Adam believed, incited future indolence. Why bother talking to convince someone of your point when you could use chemicals to sway them?

“Are you sure the surgery went okay? There hasn’t been any further complications?” Adam asked.

Lambert blinked, his belligerence disappearing, replaced by his normal professional façade. The HUD recorded a drop in adrenaline, confirming what Adam already knew, asking about his patient’s wellbeing had redirected the Doctor’s thoughts.

“Ah yes. No, sorry, everything’s fine,” Lambert assured him.

Adjusting his glasses, the Doctor shrugged in a self-depreciating way and continued with his original narrative.

“As I said on the phone, there were some anomalies in this ‘Madison’s’ blood.”

The Doctor paused after this, seemingly at a loss with how to proceed. He looked nervously around, before getting up to pace around the room.

“For each new patient we conduct blood tests to determine blood type. I asked my assistant to run Madison’s blood in case she needed a transfusion. But the test returned some unusual results.”

The Doctor paused to rub a hand over his jaw, darting a nervous glance at Adam.

“Madison does have augmentations. Well at least I think she does. There’s something along her spine, I’m not sure what augmentation that is. Because of her surgery, I wasn’t able to get an accurate scan. But that’s not what I called you down here for. The extraordinary part is that she has nanites in her body. I think the nanites somehow shield the internal augmentations; I can’t get a definitive reading on them. She’s got nano-augmentation technology…..”

The words swirled around his mind like an abstruse whirlwind, sinking through his hands like sand as soon as he tried form coherent thoughts.

“What do you mean, she has _nano- augmentations_?” Adam interrupted sharply, the terseness in his voice scraping like sandpaper.

Lambert cringed at his tone. Adam’s Social Enhancer warned him of the increase of cortisol in the Doctor’s system, a chemical which stimulated the fear response. Adam took a quick breath, making the effort to calm himself. Smoothed out the frown he knew was there and relaxed his jaw.

“Sorry Doc,” Adam said, smiling.

Hoped his smile didn’t turn out like the snarl it felt. Grinning meekly, the Doctor waved away his apology.

“Start from the beginning. I need to know everything,” Adam ordered.

As the Doctor’s eyes sparkled behind his glasses, his HUD signalled the Doctor’s increased levels of dopamine, a hormone which increased pleasure in the brain. Adam deactivated the Social Enhancer, its constant updates were annoying him, and he no longer required its use anyway.

“Let me explain. I’ll try not to get too technical, and most of what I tell you, you already know, but I need to provide a background so you understand just how unique this woman is.”

The Doctor got up and clasped his hands behind him. Pacing behind the desk, Lambert snapped his heel around looking like a lecturing Professor.

“Okay, so when mechanical augmentation was first engineered, finding the perfect interface between man and machine, was let me just say, astonishingly difficult. External prosthetics are now made from hypoallergenic materials, such as the polymer that are your arms.”

The Doctor stopped pacing to gesticulate towards Adam’s arms.

“Only these hypoallergenic materials are able to fuse with human skin. But before this, every other synthetic augmentation would not work because the human body was unable to cope being fused with metal.”

“However,” the Doctor raised a finger, “as you know, Hugh Darrow pioneered the PEDOT cluster array. What Darrow did for Augmentations can be likened to what Alexander Fleming did for medicine by discovering penicillin,” Doctor Lambert said, nodding enthusiastically.

Swallowing expansively, Adam had to curtail the urge to get up and smash his fist into the good Doctor’s desk upon hearing Darrow’s name. As Lambert continued with his oration, Adam forced himself to listen.

“The human body had far more success bonding with a hybrid device made from organic materials and a conducting polymer. However, the one side effect no-one expected was the rejection syndrome everyone experiences when they become augmented.”

Adam smiled grimly when the Doctor talked about rejection syndrome. He had never had need of Neuropozyne, and never would thanks to his unique DNA which allowed his body to join seamlessly with any augmentations. Adam pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache build up behind his eyes.

“In order to circumvent reject syndrome, scientists attempted to create augmentation technology without the need for metal to replace limbs and internal organs. They’ve been successful in creating what’s called nanites. It’s injected into the body, and will in theory, interact with biological material. But in every trial the nanites failed because they couldn’t interpret commands sent directly from the brain. The information sent back was always in a form that couldn’t be interpreted. As far as I know, testing has not occurred in human subjects, and certainly hasn’t been successful.”

Adam sighed. “Doc, while all this is fascinating, and I’m sorry to be abrupt, but could you please get to the point?”

Sitting back down in his chair, Doctor Lambert leant forward, excitement shining in his eyes. 

“That woman in our medical bay has the most advanced form of augmentation I’ve ever seen. Light-years ahead of current research. Adam, she doesn’t need metal prosthetics to be enhanced. Nanites have infused her entire body. She is the only known human able to bond with this nano-augmentation technology.”

Despite trying to maintain a stern expression, a grin escaped, which the Doctor quickly smothered.

“I’ve run countless tests. Her entire system, cardio-vascular, central nervous system, bone density, and muscle mass seem to be infested with nanites. Whatever happened to her has resulted in a complete transformation of her body on a cellular level.”

“Her bones are stronger than a normal human, her muscle mass means she has an incredible capability for strength beyond those even with augmentations. Her skin is like your dermal armor, it’s able to withstand amazing amounts of damage. Combine that with her increased heart, lung and central nervous system capacity and she is the most advanced human being on the planet.”

The Doctor looked at Adam over his glasses. “Her regenerative capabilities are astounding. She’s recovering far faster than normal. But her healing has been slowed. I discovered that Madison’s muscles have atrophied. It’s not severe, and I don’t know how or why it would occur, but she’s not healing as fast as I suspect she could. ”

Adam stared blankly at the Doctor, neurons firing like electrical currents, sparking too quickly to form a coherent narrative. Questions trundled around his mind, collecting others until it felt like all he had was a huge ball of uncertainty rolling around his brain.

Slowly, his mind grappled with the idea, enough to at least form intelligible ideas. How could this woman bond with nano-augmentation technology, which was only at the beginning stages of creation?

“Is that why my HUD was malfunctioning? I couldn’t get a read on her, couldn’t tell if she was augmented.”

Lambert nodded. “Most likely.”

Adam wouldn’t insult Lambert by asking if his findings were correct, the Doctor was far too enthusiastic about his discovery for it to be incorrect.

“Doctor Lambert, I need you to listen very carefully.”

Adam leaned forward and flicked back his glasses so that his eyes were exposed. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably, which was exactly the effect Adam was aiming for.

The Doctor needed to understand the seriousness of the situation. Madison’s presence inside Sarif Industries could be dangerous for everyone. He needed to keep the situation contained, prevent all non-essential staff from finding out about her.

People would be looking for this woman. Namely the Military Police. Adam suspected the Army was responsible for the nano-tech. Over the years they’d invested millions into augmentation research. Rumors and investigations had surrounded the Army for years; illegal testing, unexplained deaths, missing test subjects. If this woman was running from Army officials, then Adam needed to keep the situation contained until he could formulate a plan.

“Who else knows about this?” Adam demanded, voice sharp enough to slice through the Doctor’s benign expression.

Doctor Lambert hesitated. “Um, only me. And my protégé, Doctor Aaron Meers, he examined Madison’s blood. That’s all.”

“What about the medical team who assisted on the surgery?”

Shaking his head Lambert replied. “No. They knew I tested her blood. They don’t know about the nanites.”

Adam relaxed. Only two people. That was manageable.

“What you’ve discovered _must_ stay within Sarif Industries. Only a select few will have access to this information, you, myself and Doctor Meers. Do _not_ tell anyone else. We clear Doc?” Adam demanded, the implication behind his tone apparent.

The Doctor nodded quickly, his glasses sliding further down his nose. Lambert flinched when Adam stood up suddenly, but Adam ignored the reaction. He wasn’t trying to intimidate the Doctor but he required his co-operation and discretion. A little fear would make the Doctor more likely to keep his mouth shut.

“I’ll inform Sarif of your findings, and you can email me the report.”

Doctor Lambert was nodding eagerly. “Yes, of course, I’ll email you. Straight away. You can count on my complete discretion in regards to this manner.”

Adam looked past the Doctor, his analytical mind working overtime to decide how to handle these remarkable turn of events. Adam snapped his glasses back over his eyes and looked down at the Doctor.

“I’ll assign a few of my men to the medical bay. It’s just a precaution, for your staff and the woman. I’m not sure how she’ll react waking up in a strange place.”

Adam watched as his HUD flashed a status report at him. The Doctor’s heart rate increased, most likely realizing that this woman wasn’t just an interesting experiment. That she could pose a possible risk to himself and his staff.

Adam smiled. “Don’t worry Doc, like I said, it’s just precautionary.”

The Doctor swallowed and attempted a smile. “Sure Adam.”

Adam’s long, purposeful strides took him towards the elevator. By the time he sat down at his computer again, the Doctor had sent through his report. Adam also phoned through his request to have guards situated inside the medical bay.

While Adam scrolled through the report, he mulled over the implications. He knew that just by bringing this woman to Sarif Industries he was breaking the law and possibly putting the employees he was paid to protect in danger. His first responsibility was to Sarif Industries and its staff. He’d failed to protect them once and he wouldn’t make the same mistake.


	7. Chapter 5

The slow beeping trickled through the cocooned warmth thickening Madison’s mind, permeating the layer of peaceful cognizance. Eyes fluttering, she spent an inordinate amount of time riding the ebb and flow of consciousness, trying to fight her way to the surface.

Awareness pushed through the molasses type thickness coating her thoughts, but her body refused the command to move. All she could do was wiggle her fingers. Panic seized her heart, squeezing painfully.

Adrenaline jolted through her, increasing the sound of her thunderous heartbeat. Fearing she was trapped inside the capsule again snapped her eyes open. The blinding white light was painfully intense as it radiated above her.

Madison squinted against the harsh glare and closed her eyes again. The darkness behind her lids echoed the round white lights in pulsating flashes. Definitely not in the capsule, it was too bright.

Heartbeat fluttering back to its normal rhythm, Madison noticed the beeping slowed. Shifting her head to the right, she popped open one eye to look blearily at a heart monitor. The tightness in her chest receded. Where the hell was she?

Shifting her fingers imperceptibly, a finger pulse caught against the scratchiness of poor quality sheets. She was lying on a bed. In a hospital?

Sleep slowly encroached on her thoughts, pulling Madison under its thrall again before she could form another coherent thought…..

Consciousness continued to elude Madison. She’d wake for periods of time, not as lucid as she’d like, before succumbing to unconsciousness. But each time she woke, Madison felt stronger and the sensation of being wrapped in warm cotton wool felt less extreme.

Hours passed. Days passed. It was difficult to determine how much time elapsed between each bout of consciousness.

When Madison woke again, her mind felt sharper. Clearer. She didn’t open her eyes, not wanting to alert anyone that she was conscious until she could identify her surroundings. And maybe formulate a plan of escape.

Breathing in deeply, a cacophony of strange smells swirled around her. Madison wrinkled her nose as a burning sensation invaded her sinuses. The scent was overpowering, nauseating. It was a sharp smell, strong, possibly a type of chemical. Disinfectant? The ammonia meant that she was probably in a medical ward.

Shifting slightly, she winced. There was an ache in her hip, nothing too extreme, at least compared to what she’d endured in the past. But the drugs were still in her system, coating her thoughts, making it difficult to concentrate.

Aftershave and deodorant carried through the air, the cloying smell almost making Madison gag. The fragrances weren’t naturally overpowering, it had just been a while since she’d used her senses in such a stringent capacity.

With a conscious effort, she reduced the intensity of her olfactory senses. The faint brush of cloth as someone moved in the room stilled her. Madison slowly opened her eyes, saw two men in uniform standing a few feet from her bed. They paid little attention to her.

Why was she under guard? Tentatively, she flexed her arms and legs but found no restraints. Odd. Why hadn’t they restrained her? The guards weren’t augmented. That would make her escape easier.

Frustratingly, Madison felt the heaviness of sleep again. She fought against it but her body refused to acknowledge her commands ……

The next time Madison woke, she opened her eyelids slowly. The room was unbearably bright for a few seconds before she squeezed her eyes shut again. Cracking her eyes open, she squinted against the glare until her pupils adjusted to the brightness.

She felt stronger, rested. Whatever drugs they’d given her had finally worn off. Her body didn’t feel weighed down by an invisible force. There was a dull ache near her hip, but it was manageable.

Now was the time to assess, act and move. Keeping a wary eye on the guards, they didn’t appear to notice she’d awoken, she reached over and pulled the IV out.

Madison had no idea where she was but an almost overwhelming urge to escape suffused her. Instinct overrode conscious thought. All she wanted was to do was flee. Months she’d spent being held against her will and she wouldn’t let it happen again.

The guards stood directly opposite the bed, their stances relaxed. One was leaning against the wall, the other was sitting in a chair, reading. Their uniforms were unfamiliar; they were private security. Didn’t mean they weren’t a threat.

Their inattentiveness would assist her escape. Pulling the heart monitor’s wires out, she whipping the covers off and propelled out of bed. Landing on the floor in a crouch, she hissed as the pain in her hip ramped up a notch from a dull ache to throb.

Both guards turned to her, their expressions morphing into a comically parallel open-mouthed shock. From her crouched position, Madison launched herself at the guard leaning against the wall. He would take less time to react than the other, who needed time to get up.

Deadly force was unnecessary, she’d render the guards unconscious. Her conscience, and her moral code, made taking the life of a possibly unknowing security guard unacceptable.

Pain throbbed through her body, pulsing at the edge of her mind. Madison ignored it, wincing as she pushed up from the ground. Using her momentum, she ran towards the guard before he could reach for the weapon strapped to his hip. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, Madison slammed his head into the back of the wall. The guard’s groan petered out as he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Panting from the shock of pain surging through her, Madison lurched sideways in an attempt to balance herself from the dizziness chipping at the edge of her vision. Turning to face the other guard, she saw him slam his palm onto a red button.

A shrill high-pitched alarm immediately throbbed around her. Clasping her ears, Madison teetered backwards, struggling to remain upright. The other guard was forgotten as the piercing sound penetrated her eardrums, beating a pounding rhythm in her inner ear.

A slight sting in her neck distracted her. Blinking back tears, Madison reached up to her neck and felt a tiny dark. Yanking it out she threw it on the floor. Her vision swayed uncertainly but she blinked and held onto the adrenaline infusing her body.

Out the corner of her eye, Madison watched the guard inch closer to her, pointing his weapon at her. He didn’t shoot her again. Big mistake.

She gave a stumbling lurch, which wasn’t entirely feigned, and shuffled closer to the guard. The weapon pointed at her wavered uncertainly. A few more faltering steps and she was within range. As Madison lunged towards the guard, he panicked and tried to shoot her again. Luckily missed. Grabbing the weapon, she jerked it out of his hand and threw it away.

The guard made a clumsy attempted at grabbing her, but she deflected his attempt, grasped his arm and wrenched it around his back. Wrapping her arm around his neck, she used the brachial hold to cut off his air supply. He struggled for a few seconds before slumping in her arms. Madison let him collapse to the floor.

Staggering, Madison put a hand out to the wall to steady herself. Nausea churned in her gut, crawled up her throat and lodged there. She took a few ungainly steps. Walking was difficult, a strange lassitude had invaded her body, snaking around her muscles until it felt like she dragging her legs through sand. Whatever was in that dart was potent. Her body was trying, unsuccessfully, to burn it out of her system.

Madison pressed the red button near the door. Nothing happened. She stared at the glass uncomprehendingly. Pressed the button again. Swore under her breath. They’d initiated a lockdown sequence.

Looking around she saw the chair the guard had vacated. Limping over, she grabbed it, felt the sturdy metal under her hands. Good. Wood would shatter upon impact. Taking a deep breath, Madison tensed against the pain she knew would come. Lifting the chair, she slammed it into the glass doors. A cry tore up her throat as a scorching pain spread across her hip.

Upon impact, the glass cracked, a small jagged line running across one panel. Lifting the chair again, Madison gritted her teeth and slammed the chair into the weakest panel. The jagged line fractured into hundreds of smaller fissures, the glass crackling with an odd clinking sound, like wind chimes. But it didn’t break.

Groaning, Madison stepped back a few paces, took a few quick steps and used her momentum to take a wild running swing at the glass. The door ruptured, spraying shards of glistening splinters across the floor. Light flared as it caught the serrated edges of the glass, producing a shimmering rainbow. Discarding the chair, Madison ducked under the shattered panel and took a tentative step into another room.

Stepping in glass was inevitable; she had no shoes on and small slivers coated the floor like some macabre mid-winter display. A nurse, or what Madison assumed was a nurse, huddled in the corner behind the desk. Their eyes met. Terror contorted her expression, her wide blue eyes spilling tears like raindrops down her cheek.

Turning away, Madison grunted as she felt splinters tear into the soles of her feet. Absently clamping a hand on her hip, it took a moment to identify the stickiness she felt. Taking a trembling hand away, Madison stared at her palm now covered in blood.

“Fuck.”

Madison’s head snapped up as the glass doors adjacent to the desk opened silently. Two more security guards entered, weapons drawn. The accompanying spike of adrenaline was welcome. It muted the pain in her hip until it was only a distant throb.

Baring her teeth in a feral snarl, she ran towards the guards. Before she reached them, the familiar sting of a dart pierced her clavicle while another glanced off her arm. Madison felt the unpleasant sting as the dart’s components were injected into her bloodstream.

The culmination of the three darts was almost too much for her body to cope with. Her vision dimmed, as if someone had lowered the illumination in the room. White and grey flittered like winding shadows around her vision. A creeping numbness spread through her body, the heaviness in her limbs making her feel like she was trying to move underwater.

Blindly lunging towards the nearest guard, Madison was just able to discern his outline in the haze surrounding her vision. Somehow, she managed to grab the guard’s arm. Madison twisted his wrist until the dartgun clattered to the floor. Ignoring his shout, she manoeuvred his arm around behind him.

Hand wrapped around his neck, Madison pulled the guard flush up against her body. Phantom shadows danced around the edges of the room as she tried desperately to hold onto consciousness. Blinking rapidly only vaguely improved her vision.

Whipping around so that she faced the other guard Madison backed up, tightening the hold on her captive’s neck. Pulling the man’s arm tighter behind his back tore a pained groan from him. The other guard snapped his arms up, dartgun wavering as his eyes frantically searched for an opening.

“Put the weapon down,” she ordered.

Tightening her fingers around the man’s throat earned a sputtering moan. Madison imagined his face was turning a convincing shade of red.

“Okay, stop,” he replied, placing the dartgun on the floor.

Good. She’d prevented him from shooting her again. Hopefully. She wouldn’t be standing for long if she were hit by _another_ dart.

Madison retreated until her back hit a wall. No one could sneak up behind her. The wall also kept her upright, a feat she wasn’t sure she could accomplish by herself.

An unwelcome apathy invaded her body, weakening her grip. The guard struggled, feeling the loosening of her hold. Tightening her fingers around the guard’s neck, she hissed into his ear.

“Stop struggling or I’ll snap your fucking neck.”

The guard stilled instantly, chest heaving as he sought to regain his breath. He nodded and she felt a tremble go through him. The shadows at the edge of her vision danced closer, the menacing black mist swirling like an approaching storm cloud.

Madison whipped her head towards the door when she saw it swish open, groaning quietly to herself. More fucking security. One man walked through the door. Blinking, she felt a tug on her memory, small strands threading together until the recollection clicked into place. It was same man who had rescued her from the gangbangers.

The man was tall, not overly muscular but powerfully built. He walked into the room with the lithe grace of a predator. A long black coat covered his arms but couldn’t disguise the distinct black color of his augmented hands.

He stopped near the other security guard, flicking his gaze over to her. He took in her position, and the guard she held hostage, without a spark of emotion.

This man was formidable. It wasn’t just the augmentations which made her think this. So many replaced limb with metal, that didn’t make them an automatic threat. It was the careful way he held himself, the unassuming confidence in his own strength. She was dealing with someone who was effortlessly powerful, could likely surpass her in strength and ability.

Sagging against the wall, Madison looked around. One exit. Shit.

The other guard was again pointing a dartgun at her. He must have scooped it from the ground while she was distracted. The augmented man put his hand on the dartgun, forcefully lowering the weapon. The guard shot the man an incredulous look.

Madison activated her vision enhancement and raked her gaze over the augmented stranger. While the nanites infusing her body naturally enhanced her vision, her retinal implant added another dimension to her capabilities.

The implant had been surgically inserted onto the surface of her occipital lobe’s visual cortex. Everything she saw was scanned, analyzed and transmitted through her optical nerve onto her retina. The implant worked in similar way to a retinal prosthesis, only without the need to replace her eyes.

Scanning through the data, Madison stifled a groan. Cybernetic arm prosthesis, weaponized. Cybernetic leg prosthesis, speed enhancement. Retinal prosthesis. Cranial implants. Reinforced titanium skull. Dermal armor. C.A.S.I.E Social Enhancer. Re-breather. EMP Shielding. What augmentation _didn’t_ this guy have?

He was the most profoundly augmented person she had ever encountered.  A veritable weapon. And she was in no shape to take him on. She’d barely handled the security guards.

The augmented man skimmed his gaze over to her, his fluctuating green eyes rotating as he scanned her. A sardonic snort escaped. Scanning each other for weaknesses? He’d certainly find cavities in her armor.

Madison pulled the guard up against her chest and tightened her grip on his throat. He garbled incoherently but she ignored him. The augmented man jerked his head towards the door, signalling for the other guard to retreat.

Swallowing nervously as the guard left the room, Madison realized she was now alone with this heavily augmented man. As he stepped towards her, a low rumble worked its way up her throat, a primitive warning for the man to stay back.

The adrenaline was fading, jolts of awareness were no longer pulsing through her body, leaving her feeling weak and exposed. Leaning further against the wall, Madison took some weight off her hip.

The augmented man took a few slow steps toward her. Madison bared her teeth and growled at him in warning.

“Stop. Don’t come any further.”

The man stopped immediately, held his hand out again in the universal sign of peace. Madison scoffed. Yeah right. She watched his eyes fluctuating again behind those glasses. Formulating a plan of attack? It was what she’d do.

The glasses were designed to hide his retinal prosthesis. She did have one advantage, he most likely wasn’t aware of it, but Madison could see the nuances of his expression even behind the glasses. Most people wouldn’t be able to, but with her enhanced eyesight she was able to see his eyes clearly. Not that Madison was quite sure what, if any, that advantage gave her.

“My name is Adam. I won’t harm you. If you could just let Jared go we could talk.”

Madison merely stared at him. Let her only advantage go on the assurances of a stranger? Sure. When she didn’t acknowledge his request, Adam continued unperturbed.

“I’m not sure if you remember but you were injured. A gang of augmented men attacked you. I intervened and…” he hesitated, shrugging “.. assisted you after you were shot.”

Adam waved an augmented hand around, encompassing the room. “You’re in a medical ward at Sarif Industries. You required surgery. We have some of the finest Doctors in Detroit on our medical team and they patched you up.”

Sarif Industries? It took a few moments for her increasingly leery mind to grapple with the implications of her current whereabouts, but when it did, fear swept through her. Questions flittered through her mind. Had they found out about the nanites?  Is that why she was under guard? Had she escaped one hell only to trade it in for another?

In a grip of silent panic, Madison’s chest tightened painfully as the walls of the previously innocuous medical room closed in around her. Sarif Industries was one of the world’s leading experts in augmentation technology; surely it wasn’t a coincidence she was brought here?

Her body was desperately trying to mute the effects of the dart but failing miserably. Madison was finding it difficult to concentrate, thoughts floated through her mind like clouds, their wispy strands too incoherent to be of any use.

“You’re bleeding. You need medical attention,” Adam remarked, interrupting the flow of her increasingly panicked thoughts.

He tilted his head towards the floor. Eyeing him warily, Madison quickly looked down. Blood was dripping onto the pristine white floor. Dripping steadily, the crimson liquid plummeted one drop at a time, spattering indiscriminately.

Whipping her head back up, Madison saw Adam almost imperceptivity inch forward on one foot. He was trying to get into a position that would allow him better tactical advantage. Madison gripped the guard’s neck again and applied pressure. He struggled against her.

“Don’t,” Madison snapped, that one word splicing between them with an understated vehemence.

Adam inclined his head and took a respectful step back.

“I know you’re scared right now. You’re in no danger from me. My men darted you because they thought you were a threat to the medical staff. I apologize for that. If you can just let Jared go, we can talk. I promise no harm will come to you.”

Madison was at a loss. She could hardly stand without the support of the wall. She’d pass out soon. Between the darts and the pain radiating out from her hip, she had no idea how she was still conscious.

_/_I_/_

Adam had only just arrived at work and was heading to the medical bay to see how Madison was doing. She’d been in and out of consciousness for two days. He still hadn’t told Sarif about Doctor Lambert’s findings. Adam wasn’t even sure why he was keeping such an important find from his Boss.

“ _Might want to hurry your ass up Jensen. An alarm has been triggered in the medical bay. I’m looking at your … ‘friend’ who’s just incapacitated two guards of your guards. They’re unconscious. I hope_ ,” Pritchard ended in a superior drawl.

“Fuck,” Adam muttered as he raced toward the elevator.

Agitatedly he repeatedly pressed the button to the lower floors. Getting into the elevator, he tapped his foot in irritation, especially since Pritchard thought a running commentary on the situation was even remotely helpful.

“ _And she’s trying to smash her way through impenetrable glass. Not too bright this one. I can see why you were_ _attracted_ …”

Shaking his head, Adam growled, “What? What the fuck is wrong?”

Silence filtered through the InfoLink. “ _Um, she’s actually broken through the glass_.” Pritchard reported, unable to keep the shock out of his voice.

Adam grinned despite himself. The arrogant bastard had been proven wrong. Again.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Adam sprinted out. Keying in the code to the medical bay, he walked in.

Madison held one of his guards, Jared, by the throat. His eyes darted towards Adam, fear evident in his bloodshot pupils. His face was almost puce from the pressure she exerted.

Stopping near Evan, he put his hand out and lowered the dartgun. He needed to diffuse the situation, and that wouldn’t happen if Madison felt threatened. A he retreated from the room Adam ignored the skeptical look Evan shot him.

Activating his retinal implant, Adam scanned Madison’s physiology. Her heartrate was too fast, temperature far too high. Blinking through the data, he was shocked to find the amount of tranquilizer in her system.

Madison practically radiated fear. He knew the feeling. Waking up in a strange place after a trauma brought out some very primal emotions. In hindsight, maybe posting guards to watch over her hadn’t been the best idea. It had most likely caused some of that panic she was experiencing.

He’d reasoning with her but the fear hormone, cortisol, had overloaded her system. It made rational thought flee. She was in flight-or-fight mode.

Adam watched Madison’s eyes dart around the room nervously, possibly looking for an escape. Not finding one, resignation passed like a shadow over her face.

If Adam hadn’t been watching so closely he probably wouldn’t have noticed it. Cocking his head to the side, he frowned. A thin gold line lit up around her pupil while golden strands flared out into her green eyes. Madison blinked and it disappeared. What the hell was that?

Flicking her eyes towards the glass doors, then back at him, determination washed over her face. Madison locked eyes with him. Her face was blank, devoid of emotion but the subtle shift in her body language alerted Adam.

As he took a step forward, Madison released her death grip on Jared’s neck. Grabbing the back of his neck, she pushed Jared away. Such was her strength that Jared was propelled headfirst towards Adam without any way to stop himself.

Adam grabbed the guard before he could collide with him. Righting Jared, Adam immediately looked to see where Madison was. Throwing Jared towards him was obviously meant as a distraction. A way for her to escape. The only flaw in her plan was her weakened state. Madison was limping slowly towards the door, hand against the wall to steady herself.

“Bitch,” Jared muttered, pulling Adam’s attention away from Madison’s slow progress.

Jared’s face was red, indignance stamped over his expression. Massaging his neck, Jared’s eyes hardened as he coughed. Glaring at Madison, he reached for the baton on his belt and took a step towards her.

Adam grabbed Jared’s arm and hauled him back. Madison glanced back at him, grimacing in pain before trying to limp away faster. Adam could almost feel the desperation pouring off her as she groaned and took another stumbling step.

“Stay here,” Adam ordered Jared quietly.

Defiance flashed in Jared’s eyes, but Adam ignored him. Jared mumbled under his breath but didn’t move. Lips twitching in anger, Adam turned his full attention back to Madison. He’d deal with Jared’s insubordination later.

_/_I_/_

Some kind of power struggle was occurring between Adam and the guard. Jack? Or was it Jared? Found she didn’t care much. Her perception was clouded by white flashing across her vision like lightening.

Throwing the guard against the augmented stranger hadn’t worked. It would have been a perfect opportunity to escape if she could feel her legs. She’d taken four small steps and each was harder than the other. Her legs felt like they were being slowly hardened by concrete.

The doors were so far away, but desperation burned a path through her sinews. Trapped, drugged, and still recovering from surgery she could do nothing to aid her escape. Madison’s arm shot out to steady herself against the wall as she wobbled precariously.

Adam approached, said something to her but all she could heard was a low rumble in place of words. When Adam stepped in front of her, she panicked and tried to run, not trusting his assurances that he would not harm her.

Madison’s legs collapsed out from underneath her. Landing on her injured side, she grunted as pain flared in her hip. Her body finally shut down. Like some odd déjà vu, the last vision she had before the darkness claimed her was Adam’s face.


	8. Chapter 6

“What the fucking hell happened?” Sarif yelled at Adam.

Standing only a few paces away from him, Adam did not appreciate the volume. Sarif’s agitated breathing filled the space between them. Hands on his hips, his Boss glared at him expectantly.

Adam repressed a sigh. Having informed his Boss of Madison’s violent actions in the medical bay, Sarif had responded predictably. In anger.

“It’s dealt with,” Adam assured his Boss.

And it was dealt with. After Madison had collapsed, Doctor Lambert had set up a drip with a low dose of diazepam. Combined with the powerful effects of the three tranquilizers she’d been hit with, Adam knew she wouldn’t wake while he was away from the room.   

“Dealt with?” Sarif echoed.

Irritation chipped at the edge of those two words, making his Boss’s normally level tones sound brittle as he attempted to hold in his anger.

The calm Adam attempted to project felt like it was cracking at the edges. The small pieces falling around him as Sarif continued his tirade.

“Attacking and injuring three of your security team and destroying the medical bay doors is inexcusable. And by the way how the hell did she do that? Those doors are polycarbonate bulletproof glass. She goes now Adam.”

Sarif grabbed the top of his desk chair and impatiently swung it out of the way. Leaning on the desk, the frown marring Sarif’s face made his normally unruffled veneer look strained.

Adam knew that pressure from the government, board members, activists and the media were visibly weighing on his Boss. Sarif hadn’t mentioned much about it to Adam. Normally his Boss wouldn’t hesitate to discuss those concerns with him. But the tenor of their relationship had changed. There was a tension between them, unresolved issues on both sides making the easy rapport of the past too hard to reclaim.

“I understand your anger Boss, but cut her a bit of slack. Waking up in a strange room, drugged and having just had surgery, she was probably scared. Maybe she didn’t handle that fear with the dignified poise others would have,” Adam said, voice heavy with irony.

“I don’t care Adam. Violence towards our staff won’t be tolerated.”

Cocking his head to the side, Adam felt a stiff smile lift the corner of his mouth. “Just like my violence towards the medical staff wasn’t tolerated?”

Hesitating, Sarif opened his mouth but clamped it shut again quickly. Adam remembered the disorientation and fear after waking from his surgery. He didn’t expect to survive after that Namir asshole shot him in the head with his own fucking gun.

But he did survive. And when he woke his body felt so alien to him. He couldn’t feel his arms. And that caused a churning panic. Flight or fight. That primeval reaction had triggered a blind attempt to escape. He’d lashed out, broke a Doctor’s arm, another Nurse’s nose, others had required stitches.

Sarif narrowed his eyes in displeasure. Friction chafed in the space between them, their problems irresolute and never simple enough for a simple apology to suffice.

“That was a very different situation Adam and you know it,” Sarif declared quietly.

It was the response Adam expected. A reference to his own aggressive reaction in a similar situation wouldn’t convince Sarif to change his decision. Adam knew had he to inform his Boss about the nanites in Madison’s blood, it was the only way he’d allow her to stay.

Sighing, Adam held out a tablet. Sarif frowned, looked down at the tablet, eyes lingering on the tech before shooting back up to Adam’s face. Confusion tightened his expression.

“What’s this?” Sarif asked suspiciously.

Adam shrugged. “Just read it. You may change your mind about shoving Madison out the door.”

A small tick in Sarif’s cheek jumped as he stared at Adam. Stepping forward he shoved the tablet at his Boss. Grabbing it irritably, Sarif looked behind him before sitting down.

Augmented hand came up to unconsciously caress his chin as Sarif flicked through the touch screen. His eyes darted quickly over Doctor Lambert’s report. Adam watched the emotions carve themselves out on Sarif’s face. Disbelief, surprise, excitement.

 “Nano-augmentation?” Sarif marvelled, a slow smile spreading over his face.

He shook the tablet at Adam. “This is incredible.”

An astute shrewdness settled in Sarif’s eyes. Adam swallowed down the anger threatening to spill words he’d regret. It was the same look he imagined Sarif had given Megan when she’d informed him of her findings after stealing his DNA.

Excitement flared in Sarif’s eyes. “This woman is the future of augmentation technology. Nano-tech isn’t even viable yet. How has she successfully bonded with this technology?”

“I don’t know,” Adam admitted.

Swinging around to face his computer, Sarif began typing. “We need more samples. I’ll make a list of the tests I want Doctor Lambert to run ...”

“No.”

Adam spoke quietly, but the force behind that one word resounded around the room, stilling Sarif instantly. His Boss blinked at him in bewilderment, hands poised over the keyboard.

“Excuse me?” Sarif queried, disbelief written clearly on his face as a flush crept up his neck.

“No,” Adam reiterated. “You’re not her medical proxy. Madison needs to give you permission to run those tests.”

Expression darkening, anger flared in Sarif’s gaze, dimming the color in his eyes until it looked like he was staring into a stormy blue sea.

“I think permission was granted when she attacked my staff,” Sarif responded carelessly.

A snarl formed, making his deep voice vibrate with suppressed ire. “That doesn’t give you the right to automatically take what’s not yours. I thought you’d have learnt your lesson by now. Anyway, further testing without her consent is illegal; you criticized me a few days ago for not adhering to the law and putting Sarif Industries in jeopardy,” Adam reminded his Boss.

“You’re lecturing _me_ about gradations in legality?” Sarif asked, snorting in derision.

Adam had to concede, Sarif did have a point. He’d committed numerous felonies bringing Madison into Sarif Industries. He wouldn’t even think about the number of laws he’d violated during missions. But Sarif’s condemnation for the actions he’d taken during the missions _Sarif_ had sanctioned rankled.

Rolling his shoulders irritably, Adam lowered his voice, the gravelly undertones highlighting the extent of his aggravation.

“You never seemed to mind my illegal activities before. As long as I got the job done.”

Sarif straightened up, eyes flashing dangerously. He pointed a finger at Adam, punctuating the words with a stab of his finger.

“Careful Adam. You and I _both_ know you would have razed the earth to find Megan. Law or no.”

His lip pulled up into a scowl when Sarif mentioned Megan’s name. No, he didn’t like being reminded of what he’d done to avenge his ex. The room compressed around them with the       ` pulsing anger emanating from both men, saturating them in the accusations indicted by both.

“Regardless,” he ground out, when it became obvious Sarif would rather glare at him than initiate conversation, “you need to respect boundaries. Don’t take any more samples.”

Displeasure radiated from Sarif in waves but he gave a stiff nod.

_/_I_/_

The various machines whirred quietly in the background as Adam sat in the medical bay. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he yawned. Fatigue arrested his mind, he’d had precious little sleep in the last few days. His body wanted rest. He couldn’t though, until he’d talked with Madison.

Glancing over, Madison’s chest rose and fell evenly. The Doctor had repaired the stitches she’d torn and assured him she’d done no lasting damage. Adam was unsure when she’d wake up but he wasn’t taking chances. He needed to be there to stop another violent outburst.

Madison hadn’t seriously injured his staff. She could have. At any time during her escape, she could have killed his men. Madison had shown remarkable restraint considering the fear he’d detected. Nano-augmentation technology or not, if Madison had killed any of his guards, Sarif would not allow her to stay. He would have also been forced to report the incident to the Police.

At least Sarif had agreed to desist from further testing. Sarif didn’t have the authority, or the right, to take any more samples. It was a violation, something Adam wouldn’t tolerate. It hit too close to home. The people he trusted the most had deceived him by similarly taking unconsented liberties with his blood. He would not allow that to happen to Madison.

Dropping the tablet on the seat next to him, the words were blurring together, Adam stood up to walk around the room. Trying to reinvigorate his tired body.

Looking around, the drab interior of the medical bay was still as depressing as it had been when he’d stayed. Despite the advanced technical age they lived in, where people strove to replicate machine, there was some innate condition that required color as part of the healing process.

The total lack of anything resembling pigment was depressing, and made him want to get a paintbrush and use at least a primary color in the room. It was probably a better way to invoke color than his last attempt. Skating a hand over the wall, Adam grunted quietly, at least they’d repaired the damage he’d caused.

Sitting back down in the chair, Adam flicked the tablet back on and absently read the nightly security report. Unsurprisingly, Madison’s escapades in the medical bay featured prominently. Adam scanned the gaping hole in the glass doors, impressed with the strength it took to shatter the polycarbonate laminate.

Adam scowled at the machines as they continued their uninterrupted resonance. There were too many unpleasant memories for him to ever be comfortable in the room. Flashes of unsolicited memories always escaped despite his best attempts at blocking them.

Tilting his head back slightly, Adam massaged his neck, closing his eyes when he felt slight relief from the tenseness in his muscles. When he opened them again, Madison was beginning to stir. Her breathing was no longer the deep and even tones of sleep. Propped up slightly, Adam watched her eyelids flutter.

When Madison’s eyes snapped open abruptly, they unerringly sought him out. Fear washed over her face, her pupils dilating until black encompassed her iris and he could see very little of the green.

_/_I_/_

Unlike the last time Madison woke, she floated to the surface of consciousness harmoniously. A pleasant woolliness coated her thoughts. She rode that medication high for some time, aware she was in a strange place but peculiarly unperturbed by the revelation.

The closer she drifted to consciousness, the more she became aware of the faintest pain thrumming through her body. The discomfort was a guiding beacon back to full awareness.

Even before she was completely awake, there was something vaguely familiar, a memory or a feeling. She couldn’t place it until she breathed in deeply. A recognizable scent, metallic combined with an earthy trace, snapped her eyes opened.

Madison knew the augmented man who had rescued her from the gangbangers was in the room. His outline blurred briefly before his image crystallized and she saw him sitting across from her bed.

Panic slammed into her throat as her heartbeat thudded painfully inside her chest. She tried to push herself up but the pain, which was only on the outer edges of her mind, thrust uncomfortably to the forefront and she stifled a groan.

Sweat broke out over her body and she collapsed back onto the bed. The man made no move to stop her, just sat quietly, watching her.

“You’re in no danger. It’s just me in here, no other guards this time.”

Glancing around the room, Madison ignored him. Instead took a deep breath in, sorting through the different scents. The oppressively strong disinfectant smell clung to every surface. She could smell the coppery scent of blood. Likely hers. The two guards hadn’t been inside the room for a while, there was only the faintest trace of their markers in the room.

It wasn’t until she’d had the nanite infusion that Madison understood really understood how weakened human’s senses really were.

All of Madison’s five senses were heightened. She could decipher layer upon layer of noise, with the ability to distinguish sound from up to a mile away. Able to identify individual scents, her enhanced olfactory senses enabled her to identify spoor with greater precision. It was also particularly useful for tracking.

Individual scent markers dissipated after a certain time, their traces disintegrating with each passing hour. It was also how Madison could validate the man’s statement. The guard’s scent markers weren’t as strong. They hadn’t been in the room for hours. She also couldn’t detect anyone else in the immediate vicinity.

Shifting so that she could prop herself up, Madison was surprised to find both hands were unrestrained. So this man was either incredibly stupid and wanted a repeat performance. Or, he was extremely confident in his own ability to subdue her. Madison was leaning towards the latter.

Instinct warred with self-preservation. Madison desperately wanted to escape, but knew she couldn’t fight her way past the man sitting opposite. He may look relaxed but she’d wager he was very fast. Too fast for her in her current, weakened condition.

Expecting to be restrained and locked away, it surprised her that she was none of those things. Suspicion thrummed through her, she needed answers.

“I’d,” Madison stopped, coughed from the dryness in her throat. “I’d like to go now,” she said, voice hoarse.

The man frowned. “You’re injured. I’d venture a guess and say you can barely stand.”

Alarm snaked through her, the heart monitor keeping pace with her biological response. She glanced at the machine in annoyance.

“So I’m being held here?” she asked, unable to keep the tremor out of her voice.

“No.” Confusion pulled a frown from Adam.

She had so many questions, but the drugs and the pain clouded her mind.

“I just want to talk. That’s all. You’re free to leave at any time,” Adam assured her.

Madison remained quiet, instead studied the man who had saved her life. On the left side of his forehead, near his hairline, Adam had an odd type of hexagonal imprint, but it wasn’t a scar. His left eyebrow, however, did have a noticeable scar running through it.

Staring steadily at her, Madison was surprised to feel the force of Adam’s will even through his glasses. Despite the mechanical aspect to his eyes, Madison actually saw the distinctions in his character.

Maybe she was reading his expression, but she suspected this man was not innately cruel. Dangerous yes, but devoid of the brutality she’d expected. She was familiar with enough men who were to differentiate.

“You’re not saying anything,” he remarked mildly.

She hadn’t noticed before but Adam had a very husky, gravelly voice, like he was a heavy smoker.

“That’s an astute observation,” Madison responded wryly.

He looked at her sharply, his fluctuating green gaze assessing. Adam cleared his throat, ignoring her sarcasm.

“Do you remember how you got here?”

Pausing, Madison scanned her memory. Nodded.

“Yes,” she responded slowly. “I was cornered by augmented Bangers. You came to my aid.”

Madison wasn’t sure how she felt about that. But if they were playing twenty questions, she guessed it was her turn.

“Where am I. Exactly?” Madison asked, sharp emphasis on the last word.

“The medical bay of Sarif Industries. I work here. Head of Security.”

Smoothing a hand over the sheet, Madison looked away to process what Adam had said. Pain continued to gnaw at her hip, a throbbing reminder of her encounter with the gangbangers. But the pain was welcome. It kept at bay the lingering opacity the drugs had induced.

Without Adam’s assistance, she would have been raped and killed. He could have left her to die or not got involved at all. It was improbable that Adam knew about her unique physiology before he intervened. So it appeared he’d helped her from a purely altruistic mindset.

But her surgery had complicated matters. Madison knew that before surgery, Doctors tested blood type, organ function, and for possible infection. Those tests would have revealed anomalies.

Why Adam hadn’t taken her to a hospital was strange but entirely to her advantage. She wasn’t in the system and may be able to evade her pursuers undetected.

 _If_ she could escape Sarif Industries.

 “Do you remember my name?” Adam asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Stifling the urge to roll her eyes, Madison nodded. Did this guy think she was simple? But she’d play along, see what he truly wanted.

“Yeah, it’s Adam…” Madison trailed off, giving him to opportunity to introduce himself again since he obviously felt the need.

“Jensen,” he finished.

Adam stared at her expectantly. She should probably dial back the sarcasm, but it was the only defence she had at the moment.

“Madison,” she grudgingly introduced herself.

The side of his mouth curled. “Nice to put a fist to a name.”

She barked out a laugh, amused despite herself. Looking over at the glass sliding doors, the shards had been swept away but there was a gaping hole in the middle. Going by Adam’s acerbic quip, maybe he wasn’t as irate by her violent antics as she’d assumed.

“I’m sorry my men darted you. Although, it took a few darts to subdue you. One of those darts alone is usually enough to put a fully grown man to sleep for a week,” Adam observed with a raised eyebrow.

Anxiety coursed through her, the spike in adrenaline burning out the last traces of sedative still lingering in her system. The heart monitor beeped wildly in response. Tensing, Madison shifted her hand under the cover, grabbing the side of the bed.

Flicking his gaze over to the machine, Adam held up his hands. “Relax. I’m not going to harm you.”

Her nervous system twitched in response to this this declaration. Flight or fight? Her was body primed for action, ready to react to the slightest threat.

Adam made no move towards her, was very careful to keep his hands in sight and maintain eye contact. The atmosphere was taught, as if a breath had been indrawn and held. The seconds slid by, neither moving. Eventually, Madison relaxed her muscles, blew out a breath and sat back. She couldn’t do anything else, her arms were trembling and nausea churned in her gut.

The tension trickled out from Adam. He didn’t sit back, as if anticipating she’d launch herself at him. Not an unreasonable deduction.

“I won’t harm you,” Adam reiterated.

Activating her Social Enhancer, Madison was keen to discover the validity of that assessment. Adam’s readings were currently balanced, his heart rate and breathing within the normal range. That allowed her to better determine any discrepancies in his speech or physical reactions.

Madison could detect no deceit in his words, but that didn’t mean they weren’t any. Adam could just be adept at regulating his emotional responses.

“You probably have questions. That’s fine, I’m happy to answer them. Maybe if I explain some things you can decide whether you want to have any further input?”

Madison hesitated, looking over at the exit. She’d resigned herself to the fact that she couldn’t escape. Might as well listen to what Adam had to say. She nodded her assent.

“As you can see I’ve been pretty extensively augmented. One of my augmentations is a Retinal Prosthesis. I can determine the extent of another’s augmentations. When I first saw you, my HUD was malfunctioning and couldn’t identify whether you were an Aug or not.”

Adam paused at this juncture and looked at her. Expecting what? Applause? When Madison stared at him without commenting. Adam shrugged his shoulders irritably and changed tack.

“By the time I intervened with those gangbangers you’d already been shot. I couldn’t leave you there, you were bleeding and I couldn’t be assured the paramedics would get to you in time. I also couldn’t walk into a Hospital with a gunshot victim. Since Panchaea, Augs have been persecuted and the Hospital may have refused you treatment. I would have come under scrutiny and been detained. I couldn’t just let you die so I brought you here.”

Frowning, Madison wasn’t sure what Panchaea was. Made a mental note to ask later, reluctant to interrupt.

Adam hesitated, eyeing her warily. “Before your surgery, our Doctors completed some routine blood tests. There were some … abnormal results.”

Fear uncoiled inside her, looping around her brain and squeezing until all she could think about was exposure. While in the Army, it didn’t matter. But now? If people discovered how unique her DNA was she’d be hunted. And here this man was, a breath away from tearing open her camouflage.

“I’m aware you do actually have augmentations; it just comes in the form of nano-technology.”

Madison heard the words, echoing like a montage in her mind, until they spliced, their meaning becoming inconsequential. Adam continued, unaware of her reaction or ignoring it she wasn’t sure.

“I did my own research too. I know you were in the Army. Black Ops Augmentation Division. You’ve been missing for eight months. Wanted for desertion.”

Anxiety trickled down her spine, pooled in her belly to create a tumbling queasiness.

“Desertion?” The word came out in a choked whisper.

Adam glanced at her sharply. “You didn’t know?”

Unable to speak, she shook her head. Adam shifted forward in the chair, looked like he was about move towards her, thought better of it and sat back.

“I’m assuming you went AWOL for a reason. You’re wanted for questioning by Army Police.”

Madison scowled, anger overcoming the shock. “The investigation was bullshit.”

Adam’s eyebrow rose in question. Fuck, she’d said too much. Crossing her arms over her chest, Madison stared at Adam. She wondered how he’d dug into her past. Most of her assignments were highly classified and as such supposedly inaccessible.

“What are you going to do now?” Madison asked dully.

The emotions tumbling around inside her wedged together until all she felt was a pervading numbness. The knowledge that she was going to be returned to her oppressors elicited nothing but a vague bitterness.

“What do you want me to do?” he countered.

Adam was so perfectly balanced, so infuriatingly unruffled, Madison wondered if he was more machine than man. She couldn’t find a chink in his armor, no emotional response she could use to her advantage.

“Have you informed the Army of my location?” she asked.

Hope bloomed despite her desperate attempt to keep the emotion stuffed down. If no one knew of her location, she might, just might, be able to evade her pursuers.

“No,” Adam replied, shaking his head

Adam’s readings were steady, heartrate and breathing normal, no deviation in tone. Madison couldn’t determine if he was lying. People’s physiological reactions betrayed them when they lied. Pupil dilation, voice deviation, increased heart rate. Adam displayed none of those.

Under no obligation to tell her anything, Madison was perplexed Adam was even reasoning with her. It was incredibly frustrating not to know his true motives. Was Adam just a concerned citizen with a conscience? And was it an extraordinary set of circumstances which landed her in Sarif Industries?

“Who knows about me? About the nanites?” Madison demanded, sneering at the last word. She hated those nanites and what they represented.

“Only the Doctor who performed your surgery, my boss, David Sarif, and myself.”

Madison knew she was worth millions, being the only successful trial to have nanites successfully bonded with human cells. It was inconceivable that a multi-billion dollar augmentation company wouldn’t take advantage of her.

“So the question is, do you auction me off to the highest bidder or keep me confined for your own research purposes?” Madison asked, unable to keep the contempt she felt from pulling her mouth up into a sneer.

Adam’s head jerked back, his carefully blank expression morphing into something akin to disdain.

“Neither,” Adam countered, anger compressing his lips into a thin line.

Madison frowned, noticing Adam’s fluctuating readings. Finally a response. Good. When emotions were heightened, people tended to be unguarded with the information they provided.

“What are you going to do with me then?” Madison asked, exasperation creeping into her voice.

Annoyance flickered over Adam’s expression before he smoothed his face back to its normal inscrutableness.  

“Nothing. You can recuperate here and leave when you feel up to it. If you want my help, that’s fine, if not,” Adam shrugged and pointed to the broken glass door, “whatever’s left of the exit is that way.”

Glancing over at the shattered remains of the door, Madison deliberated on what to do. She had no I.D, no passport, so she couldn’t even get out of the country, even if that was ever a viable option. She couldn’t return home, if her house hadn’t been sold anyway. And it was most likely being monitored. All of her bank accounts would have been frozen. The irony of knowing she was worth millions but was essentially penniless, was not lost on Madison.

Escaping from the Army would be difficult, even with resources. Without them? Practically non-existent. In this highly digitized world, Madison knew the calculable odds of remaining undetected from the Army’s far reaching influence. She wouldn’t get far.

Madison knew how the Army operated. She’d successfully hunted rogue Augs around the world using the Army’s highly evolved technology. So Madison knew that the tech which had once assisted her to track rogue Augs would now, more likely than not, be used against her. She couldn’t hide from the Army, not without significant help.

She shuddered at the thought of being remanded in that small room again. So where did that leave her? Adam was offering his assistance but at what price? Was she seriously considering negotiating a deal with him? If he was going to detain her indefinitely, he would have done so already, not give her another chance to escape. With no other option, Madison decided to test Adam’s convictions.

“What would your help look like?” she asked, unable to keep the suspicion out of her voice.

“You can recover in the medical bay for however long you need. You’re always free to leave. But…” Adam teetered off as Madison groaned in rue. She knew she couldn’t trust him.

“Can I finish?” Adam asked, annoyance shading his words.

Madison scowled but waved for him to continue.

“But, I need to know a few details first.” Adam looked over at her and began ticking off items on his fingers.

“Where you’ve been the last eight months. Why you absconded from your unit. How you’re able to bond with the nano-tech. Why the Army Police are seeking you. Sarif Industries will be taking a considerable risk protecting you. If it becomes known we harbored a fugitive, _we_ run the risk of prosecution. I need to know what I’m risking. If you’re not willing to answer, then I can’t help you. I won’t risk this company or my employees without knowing the reasons why.”

Madison felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, having to decide whether to take the plunge, not knowing if she had a parachute. If she didn’t provide Adam with her background, she couldn’t rely on his help. But he was asking her to impart an incredibly private story to a stranger. To trust him with a secret others would kill for. And she didn’t trust anyone.

Refuse, and Adam would not allow her to stay. Madison knew no matter how hard she tried to escape her pursuers, she’d be captured again. So what choice did she have? Ultimately, it was Adam’s convictions in protecting his staff which swayed her.

Madison could see Adam would put his staff’s safety first, despite knowing about her genetic anomaly and how his company could benefit from her DNA. Despite her natural inclination to distrust others, Adam hadn’t said or done anything which she could fault, or find any falsehood in.

Madison brushed way any lingering doubts, settled back against the pillow and began her account.


	9. Chapter 7

2018 

_“Dad?” Madison called out, her voice echoing around the house._

_Running her hand across the old table, her fingers glossed over the smooth varnish. Madison smiled when she encountered the indentation. Vividly remembered her Mother’s fury when she told her the antique table she’d purchased just a week and ago, now had a distinct dent because her only daughter had dropped her laptop._

_“Dad?” Madison called out again, raising her voice._

_Heading up the stairs, Madison was disconcerted to find that the entire second floor was bathed in a gloomy grey opaqueness. Shadows clung to the corners, giving the normally bright interior a strangely oppressive feel._

_A small sliver of light could be seen under her Father’s study room door. Walking towards it, Madison gripped the chrome handle but didn’t open it. Raising her hand, she knocked lightly. When she didn’t get a response, she pushed open the door._

_A study lamp cast a small circle of buttery yellow light around the room. Slumped over on his desk, her Father was snoring. Light crawled across his face, highlighted the growth of a three-day-old beard. An empty whiskey bottle had fallen over next to him and was balanced precariously on the edge._

_Disappointment rooted her feet to the ground. Sighing, she looked away, eyes travelling over the military paraphernalia; his own medals, rare guns he’d collected, war memorabilia. The room smelt like her Father, cigar smoke and the Remington oil he used to clean his weapons._

_Shaking her head Madison recalled the man her Father used to be, before he got back from his last tour in the Middle East._

_Walking over to his medals, she fingered the numerous honors that had been bestowed on him. From the age of 21, when he first entered the Army, he’d advanced quickly through the ranks. Joining the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, more commonly known as Delta Force, her Father was sent around the world on various missions._

_A photo of her Mother sat on the desk. Madison hesitated before leaning over her Father’s snoring form to pick it up. She looked like her Mother. Madison believed she’d inherited a good portion of traits from both her parents; her Father’s natural combat ability and her Mother’s culinary skills._

_It was actually how her parents met, through cooking. Her Mother, Melinda, worked as an Army base chef. They’d married within a year of meeting and had her nine months almost to the day after their wedding._

_Placing the photo frame back on the desk, Madison looked at her watch but hesitated to wake her Father. Only having returned from assignment a month ago, Madison was deeply worried him._

_Whatever atrocities he’d witnessed while overseas had taken their toll. Each time he returned from active duty, it was like a small part of his soul was stained. He never talked about his experiences. Would brush off her concerns as if they were unjustified. But Madison knew her Father well, knew the haunted look in his eyes spoke of a deeper grief he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, talk about._

_This last time her Father returned from overseas, something had truly broken in him. He began drinking heavily. He rarely touched alcohol, so it was a shock to see him consume a bottle of whiskey in one sitting. He rarely slept, ate little, and was uncharacteristically moody. The desolation Madison saw in his eyes tore at her heart, knowing she couldn’t do anything for him._

_Raking a hand over her face, Madison was surprised to discover a tear had dripped down her cheek. Turning abruptly, Madison walked over to the bookcase, staring unseeing at the volumes until she could control the emotional turbulence within. Grabbing a book, The Art of War, she leafed through it absently._

_Her Father had been training her in the use of firearms, military strategy, combat and breach craft since she was a child. While most girls were out shopping or talking about their favorite bands, she was learning about defensive manoeuvers, lock picking, stealth and warfare. The Art of War was Madison’s favorite book, she’d analyzed it cover to cover._

_A family friend had once asked her Father why he felt the need to militarize his daughter. Madison distinctly remembered  her Father’s answer._

_“_ The world is a cruel place. It’s my job as a parent to prepare her, to the best of my ability, for the harsh realities of life. I won’t always be there to protect her. Wouldn’t you want your only child equipped with the best tools to survive on their own _?”_

_The training was never strenuous and always within her ability. When she was younger, Madison assumed they were games. In fact, that’s how her Father would set it up; as puzzles, obstacle courses, etc. Those activities provided her with a self-awareness so few achieved in life._

_Clutching her Father’s shoulder, she shook him gently. He sat upright, a snarl forming on his lips as he blindly whipped his hand out, trying to seize her wrist. He was too slow, the liquor dulling his reflexes, enough for Madison to deflect his hand. There was a time when her Father would never have been caught unawares, would have grabbed her wrist regardless of how quick she was._

_“Hey,” she intoned softly, “it’s me.”_

_He blinked blearily up at her, recognition flickering behind his red-rimmed eyes. Her Father winced and turned away from the light._

_“What’s the matter love?”_

_Madison attempted a smile. “Nothing. I just thought I’d come home and change before the ceremony. You’ll be there right?” she asked, careful to keep inflection out of her voice._

_Punctual to a second, her Father had become increasingly unreliable lately._

_One of his rare unrestricted smiles broke over his face. “Of course. Top of your class, graduating with honors, wouldn’t miss it for the world.”_

_While Madison had joined the Army as soon as it was legal, she completed basic training, and after distinguishing herself in combat, was almost immediately recruited into a Special Operations Unit._

_The Army Intelligence Support Activity, or ISA, nicknamed The Activity, was a Special Operations Unit tasked with collecting intelligence in counter-terrorist operations. Madison was one of only a handful of recruits chosen to undergo extensive training to become a part of this unit. She’d completed the training and a small ceremony was being held. Her Father was invited because of his clearance. Very few people knew the unit existed._

_“Okay, I’ll see you when I get home. Some of the guys are going out celebrating, so I’ll be back at some ungodly hour.”_

_That was the last time Madison saw her Father alive_ …..

_/_I_/_

_The flashing red and blue lights bathing the street in their iridescent colors didn’t register at first. The taxi pulled up a few feet down from her parents’ house. Dawn was slowly creeping over the horizon, the sun’s rays basking the sleepy street in a hazy orange._

_Madison shoved some banknotes at the driver and got out. Alcohol dulled her thoughts, made the normally pleasant hum complemented by the liquor an unwelcome distraction. Dread lodged in her, a precognizant awareness filtering through despite the hope that the Police weren’t parked outside her house._

_Her footsteps slapped against the sidewalk, the alcohol in her stomach sloshing unpleasantly. Yellow tape wrapped around the front porch. A Military Cop saw her approach, shook his head and tried to direct her away._

_“Sorry ma’am, you need to keep moving.”_

_A shudder of apprehension racked her body. “That’s my parents’ house,” she croaked._

_The words were whispered, didn’t even sound like they came from her._

_Sympathy transformed the Cop’s hardened expression. “I’m sorry, you’ll just have to wait here until you’re cleared to go in.”_

_“Let her through,” a commanding voice bellowed._

_The Cop winced. Madison whipped her head towards the door. Colonel Baldwin, head of ISA, beckoned her to come up to the house._

_If it was anything other than Military Police, the Colonel would not have authority to issue an order. But since her parents resided in a military housing estate, the Army Cop had to adhere to a higher command_.

_Numbly, Madison walked towards the front steps. At any other time, she’d be embarrassed by her intoxication. Now it didn’t even register._

_“Private Turner,” Baldwin asserted. “Madison,” he amended, “It is with great sadness that I must inform you of your Father’s passing.”_

_Looking up at the Colonel, Madison frowned. In her inebriated state, her brain would not allow her to decipher what it was she found wrong about the Colonel’s declarations. He looked appropriately distressed, as anyone would be informing another of their loved ones death._

_Or maybe she was just trying to think about anything but her Father’s death. Either way, the grief finally sifted through the murkiness. Without acknowledging the Colonel, she brushed past him and ran inside._

_Her Father was on the floor. Lifeless. Dead. His brown hair was stained with dried blood. His green eyes were wide open, the love she was so accustomed to seeing was conspicuously absent. The suit he wore to her ceremony not hours earlier was stained in crimson. His body was slumped over, half-sitting, half-laying on the tiled floor._

_A keening wail tore itself from her throat as she dropped to the floor and cradled her Father’s broken body. Wracking sobs escaped, her vision blurred as tears rolled down her cheeks._

_Time disappeared, the only significance for her was the cold floor upon which she sat. Grief clenched her insides until it felt like she couldn’t breathe. Sitting there, hours, or days, could have passed._

_Her name was being called, a lifeline to pull her back from the abyss._

_Colonel Baldwin stood a discreet distance away, arms folded. “We know who did this.”_

_Rage thundered in her mind, the bloodlust pounding, the need to avenge her Father a force she couldn’t resist._

_“Who?”_

_Heard the flat tones of anger which contorted her voice into a low snarl._

_“Rogue Aug who had an issue with your Father. We caught him on a security camera leaving the scene. Your Father was instrumental in his dishonourable discharge.”_

_Her Father and Colonel Baldwin knew each other, but it never occurred to Madison to ask why the head of ISA took an interest in his murder. Revenge and grief clouded her mind, made her normally rational thoughts take a holiday._

_“I have a proposition for you,” Baldwin pronounced._

_Rocking back and forward on the floor, her cheek pressed against her Father’s cooling forehead, Madison looked up at her superior._

_“You can avenge your Father’s death. Make sure no one else has to suffer the same fate.”_

_Retaliation. Vengeance. It was something her Father had been careful to warn against. But what did it matter? Her Father wasn’t here anymore._

_“I’m listening.”_

_/_I_/_

2024

_The vicious red liquid inside the injection swirled like some ghoulish lava lamp. The Doctor applied pressure and a tiny drop spilled out of the tip. When the Doctor tapped the injection to remove any bubbles, Madison winced. She was still acclimatizing to her enhanced hearing. That small noise sounded like a thunderclap, decibels above the normal range._

_She was beginning to hate the color red. All it did was represent pain. The Doctor bustled over to the table, took a pen and began to transcribe his notes. The scratching of the ballpoint scraped painfully in her eardrums._

_Gritting her teeth, she repeated the same mantra she always did when another round of inoculations occurred._

For Dad, for Dad, for Dad…

_The Special Task Force Colonel Baldwin assembled to hunt down rogue Augs had been relatively successful. For the past year she had travelled across the United States and further abroad with her team to desist and kill rogue military Augs._

_Madison’s lip pulled up into a sneer. She’d caught the man who’d killed her Father. He’d denied ever knowing him. She didn’t believe him. He tried to convince her he was ‘being set up’. Fucking bullshit was what it was. A last ditch effort to save his own life._

_As the murdering bastard tried to escape, Madison shot him in the head. Part of her was sickened by the callous way she’d disregarded her Father’s teachings, had so calmly taken the life of another. But then satisfaction surged. At seeing the man who ended her Father’s life so indifferently, finally get the fate he deserved._

_She’d lost team mates as well, good men, because they weren’t as well-equipped as their augmented brothers. A lot of her team had chosen to become augmented themselves, giving them a fighting chance against their enemy._

_The Doctor turned around and walked out of the room without consulting her. Madison scowled. Treated like a specimen, the Doctor and his research team cared little for her as a person. She was just one of the fortunate few who had the ability to bond with the nanites._

_Shifting on the lab table, Madison wondered whether she’d made the right choice, volunteering for nano-tech experimentation._

Too late now, _she thought sourly._

_After her best friend died fighting rogue Augs, Madison made the decision to become augmented. She wasn’t keen on replacing flesh with metal but it would at least allow her to keep up with the men she hunted._

_When Colonel Baldwin suggested an alternative to hacking off her limbs, Madison jumped at the opportunity. Perhaps too quickly. The Colonel assured her that out of all the candidates, her body would be most likely to bond with the nano-tech. She’d seen the preliminary tests herself, it looked viable._

_The Doctor returned, barely even glancing at Madison before he injected her. As soon as the dose hit her blood stream, her body contorted in agony. Her arms and legs bucked against the restraints. The flowing waves of agony festered like an open wound, grating against the inside of her skull until she could no longer remember what life was like without the tormented agony accompanying her senses._

_/_I_/_

2027

_“Augmentation Technology was being used by military personnel to assist in the battlefield. However, rejection syndrome was rife and Army scientists were desperately seeking a substitute. What all but the highest-ranking scientists and officials knew, was that they were actually close to perfecting nano-augmentation technology. They just needed someone with the right DNA, who could bond with nanites,” Baldwin pontificated, snapping a heel around to continue his pacing._

_Madison watched his movements behind an impenetrable screen. And it was impenetrable. She’d tried to smash her way out using the metal components of her bed. When that didn’t work she’d smashed her fists against the interior until all she got for her trouble was a few broken knuckles._

_Baldwin continued his invective under the, incorrect, assumption that she was even remotely interested in what he had to say._

_“After you were injured on a mission I tested your blood. What I discovered, my dear, was revolutionary. Hidden within your DNA was an aspect our scientists were missing to perfect nano-augmentation. And you even volunteered for the trial.”_

_Baldwin stopped directly in front of her. Hatred for this man burned in her heart so deep that it felt like it was ingrained within the tissue. Pumping the enmity through her system until she felt nothing else but the desire to make this man suffer as much as she had._

_“Yeah, but what you failed to tell me was that I was the only one undergoing such treatment. I was given to understand that others would be a part of this experimentation. But that wasn’t the case, was it Colonel?” she asked derisively._

_Baldwin managed to look amused and offended at the same time. “Think of the bigger picture here Madison. You’re contributing to the greatest scientific breakthrough since augmentation was first perfected.”_

_She knew she shouldn’t let Baldwin antagonize her. When he came for one of his regular ‘talks’, it was difficult not to respond to his skewed logic._

_“But you haven’t been able to replicate the process. Every other test subject has died. What use is my DNA if you can’t reproduce the same results? It’s not a breakthrough, it’s a failure. You’re not a scientist Colonel, you’re just a sadistic asshole who, despite the answer being handed to him on a DNA platter, can’t repeat the procedure without killing someone.”_

_Activating her retinal implant, Madison watched Baldwin’s temperature spike. A physical reaction to the anger he was adept at concealing. He may be able to school his expression into blankness, but his physical reactions told a different story._

_Smiling spitefully, Madison asked, “You warm Colonel? Your temp just went up a few degrees.”_

_Shrugging carefully, Baldwin cocked his head and let his eyes travel over her body. It was completely impersonal, not sexual at all, but Madison felt repulsed by his gaze anyway. She was nothing more than an experiment to him._ His _prisoner, inside_ his _secret Military base. Madison hadn’t seen the sun in over six months._

_Madison underwent the nano-tech infusions and spent months learning to operate her new body. All that time believing she was a voluntary patient. It was a rush at first. Using her new skills and body to take on rogue Augs._

_After the last round of inoculations, she’d unintentionally discovered Baldwin’s duplicity. She was the only one who could bond with nanites. Every other test subject had died. Repulsed by her superior’s experiments, she’d tried to escape. Unsuccessful, she was now his captive._

_During her captivity, the Colonel had continued the nanite trial. Without her consent. Wanting to discover the strengths and limitations of her nanite-infused body. She’d undergone cruel experiments which pushed her to the end of her physical and mental endurance._

_Those tortuous exercises. One she remembered vividly. Blindfolded, placed in chains and dunked in a tank of water. Madison almost drowned, she didn’t get the chains off in time, and had to hold her breath for six minutes before she could get out of the chains. Had to dislocate a few joints too._

_That was before Baldwin’s scientists had decided, in all their wisdom, that her lungs were too vulnerable. Without permission, they’d embedded soda lime exostructures in the alveoli of her lungs so that she could convert CO2 to O2, extending the time she could stay underwater._

_If she had the willpower, she’d end her own life, just to spite Baldwin. But she couldn’t do it. Despite knowing she might be secluded away in this lab for the rest of her life, Madison still held out hope that one day she might get free. And if she did escape, Baldwin would be at the very top of her shit list._

_Madison had never mustered up the courage to ask Baldwin if the Aug she tracked down actually had actually killed her Father. If she didn’t know, then she could remain blissfully unaware of how easily she had been manipulated. Knowing the truth would mean she had to look at her own actions, the lives she’d taken under Baldwin’s orders. She already had enough hate and self-doubt, adding more could be crippling._

Present Day

Taking a quivery breath Madison shot Adam a quick, nervous glance. Fatigue flickered around her like a broken flashlight. Her pale, almost pallid face highlighted the deep purples smudges under her eyes.

“A few days after that exchange with Baldwin, I heard an explosion. The wall I was standing next to blew up. I remember a brief flash of pain. That’s the last memory I have,” Madison explained.

Her voice cracked, from emotion or fatigue Adam wasn’t sure. Probably both. Madison grimaced, her hand fluttering near her hip. He felt a stab of guilt. She’d had surgery only a few days ago and was obviously in pain. She should be resting, but was instead reliving a traumatic memory.

Squaring her shoulders, Madison continued. “The next thing I know, I’ve awoken in a shipping container, hooked up to some kind of capsule. I don’t know what it was,” she admitted.

Anguish briefly clouded her expression, tore open that veil of neutrality she strove to achieve in the retelling of her story. When Madison looked up at him, Adam imagined he could feel the tangible physicality of despair in her eyes.

“A capsule. Like a stasis hatch?” Adam asked.

Using his Social Implant, specifically the Emotional Intelligence Enhancer, Adam had carefully observed Madison to ascertain the legitimacy of her story.

Pupil dilation, perspiration, hormones, heartbeat, voice deviation, he’d monitored them all carefully. Every response was within the normal range. But beyond that, his own instincts were telling him there was nothing fabricated about Madison’s account. The atrophy in her muscles had obviously been a result of the stasis hatch, something no one could, or even want, to falsify.

Adam also heard the tenor of pain in Madison’s voice when she talked about her Father’s murder. Her eyes had hardened, flashing with a venomous hatred as she talked about the Colonel. Her expression contorted into a fury no one could feign.

Frowning, Madison lifted her shoulder in a small shrug. “Probably. I didn’t stop to check for a model number though. Too busy waking up like some sleeping beauty, wondering where the hell I was.”

The amusement working its way to the surface turned his laughter into a dry snort. Cocking her head to the side, a smile ghosting her lips, dimples appeared on each cheek.

When her gaze settled on his face, Adam couldn’t help but notice how distinctive her eyes were. They were dark green, almost blue, but beyond that, slender strands of gold wavered out from the pupil, like spokes around a wheel. The effect was striking. Adam assumed it was part of her augmentation; it appeared too flawless to be anything other than artificial.

As Madison reached over to grab a glass of water, Adam found himself studying her out of curiosity. She had a heart-shaped face with a few freckles dusting her cheeks. Her hair, brown with naturally blonde highlights, had a wavy unruliness. It added to her attractiveness, hinting at an untamed individuality.

Shifting uncomfortably in the chair, Adam’s gaze skittered away. Since becoming augmented he had one brief entanglement with another woman, and like his relationship with Megan, it didn’t end well.

Adam swallowed around the hard lump of sadness in his throat. Thinking about Katrina was difficult. Since her death, he had deliberately spurned any physical reaction to the opposite sex. He’d had enough loss in his life. While he was content being loner, it didn’t mean he wasn’t _ever_ lonely. But like everything else, he dealt with the unpleasantness by pushing it to the back of his mind. And by drinking a lot of hard liquor. Not that alcohol worked anymore.

“I’m trying not to read too much into your silence,” Madison commented dryly.

Grimacing, Adam responded, “Sorry. It’s … a lot to digest.”

“Naturally,” Madison replied, voice heavy with irony.

Adam hesitated, trying to determine the appropriate response without depreciating her suffering by sounding skeptical. Because to most people, Madison’s account sounded contrived. But most people would also find _his_ experiences in the last year difficult to accept. So he wasn’t one to judge another’s experience because it sounded implausible. The truth was, he did believe her.

The comparability of their experiences was something he found disconcerting. Manipulated by those they trusted. Augmented without their express consent. An aberration in their DNA making them highly sought after commodities.

Flicking back his glasses back, the side of Madison’s mouth curled in amusement.

“I should probably let you know, I can actually see your eyes behind those lenses.”

Opening his mouth to respond, Adam shut it quickly, unsettled by her admission. He used his glasses as a way to hide his thoughts from people. And so they couldn’t see when he used his retinal enhancements.

Madison laughed, a genuine sound which had a throaty undertone, like she’d just been told a very dirty joke. Adam scratched his beard, not really knowing how he felt about that confession.

“Why are you wanted for questioning by the Army Police?” he asked.

Smile dropping abruptly, Madison sighed. “After I was augmented it took me months to learn how to use my new body. I was told that other participants had also been augmented like I had. I had no reason to think otherwise.”

“Becoming adept at using my new body had the unintended side effect of discovering when people lied. Baldwin was lying to me, I just didn’t know about what. I went on missions, didn’t break the chain of command. But when I was on base, I decided to investigate the other participants of the nano-tech study. Something didn’t gel. I never saw anyone else with nano-tech. One night, I broke into the labs. I discovered Baldwin was experimenting on other soldiers. But they all died. Dozens of deaths being concealed. I was the only one who successfully bonded with the nanites.”

Madison shrugged, expression hardening into a granite like visage.

“I must have set off a silent alarm because my presence inside the lab was detected. I tried to escape, but I was apprehended. I killed a few of his private soldiers. None of my own team, Baldwin’s _personal_ soldiers. Baldwin fabricated a report about me being a key witness to their murders. He didn’t implicate me in the crime. That would mean I’d have the Army _and_ the Cops looking for me. If I ever did break out again, I might be caught and charged. He’d never get me back into his labs. That’s what he told me.”

Bitterness rippled across Madison’s face as her lip curled up into a snarl. “It was Baldwin’s safety measure. The authorities assumed I was missing, didn’t know I was being held against my will. So now I can’t get out of the country because my picture will appear on the national registry.”

Tapping his fingers on the chair, Adam made a mental note to look into Colonel Baldwin’s background. He reviled those who used their power and position to exploit others. Corruption within the military wasn’t unheard of, but the extent of Madison’s suffering at the hands of this asshole Colonel, affronted even Adam’s hardened and cynical perspective. 

“Now you have to decide whether you want to take me on with and all my complications. I don’t have the resources to remain undetected. But I’m assuming your assistance, if you still want to help of course, won’t be without stipulations,” Madison stated, a caustic edge to her voice.

“Well, for starters you can recuperate here,” Adam assured her.

He hadn’t asked Sarif if that was acceptable but Adam wasn’t particularly fazed if his Boss disagreed.

“No one knows you’re here, which means you’re safe for the moment. I will have to talk to my Boss about what we’re going to do after you’re better. You can leave at any time, you’re not being held against your will,” Adam promised.

Wariness spread across Madison’s expression, but underneath that Adam saw a cautious hope.

“Why would you help me? You’re putting yourself at risk, for a stranger,” Madison declared, incredulity obvious in her tone.

Adam stared at Madison, wondering the same thing. By helping her he was taking a risk. But Adam couldn’t abide injustices, especially by an authority figure. If someone needed help, he couldn’t walk away.

Sometimes he cursed his moral code which made him stand against the tide of other’s choices. He’d analyzed his actions during the Mexicantown siege, and even to this day, knew he wouldn’t do anything differently. Shooting a teenager because of his augmentations wasn’t justified. Adam stood by his choices, even if it did cause him to lose the only job he’d ever really loved.

He knew he was cynical and distrustful, but that outlook was a direct result of the hand life had dealt him. Experimented on as an infant, adopted and never told, parents both dead before he reached thirty, expunged from the only job he’d ever wanted. His relationship with the woman he thought to marry had unravelled, he’d almost died and was now more machine than man.

Every single one of those experiences had shaped the person he was. But despite his often cynical outlook, Adam felt he’d always made the right choices. Maybe they weren’t the easiest ones but _he_ had to live with them.

Madison was probably even more cynical and mistrusting than he was. Understanding considering her experiences. And it was probably their similar experiences which made him want to help her. She didn’t know any of that, so her suspicions about his intentions were valid.

“I’m helping because I can. I know you don’t trust me, and that’s fine. But I could have left you out there to die. As soon as I found out about the nano-tech I could have confined you in one of our tech labs. But I’ve done none of that. Some people are still willing to help others in this world. Without expecting anything in return,” Adam remarked.

Madison still didn’t look entirely convinced, going by her guarded expression, but she also didn’t appear as strained. Now, the battle would be hiding Madison from the United States Army.  


	10. Chapter 8

Swiping the keycard over the electronic latch, a red light flashed twice before the metallic locks unclicked sluggishly. Pushing on the handle, Adam held the door open for her. Madison flicked her eyes over to his hand. The onyx gloss of the door matched the color of his augmented hand perfectly.

Madison hesitated, but Adam didn’t move, just waited patiently for her to enter. Swallowing nervously, she stepped quickly past him, taking care not to get too close. To his credit, Adam didn’t comment on her skittish behaviour.

“I hope this is okay,” Adam remarked.

Walking into the small apartment, Madison looked around with interest. Besides the bed, there was a small dining table, desk, bookshelves and kitchenette tucked into the far corner. Trailing her hand over the bedspread, the soft downy quilt felt luxurious against her fingertips. Especially considering her last ‘accommodation’.

It was a simple dwelling, but to Madison it represented something she’d never thought to experience again. Freedom. Throat closing up unexpectedly, the tumultuous emotions which had felt so close to the surface the last week, threatened to spill over.

“It’s great,” Madison replied, voice cracking from emotion.

Hearing Adam step into the room behind her, Madison twisted around quickly. Muscles bunched in anticipation of an attack, Madison had to deny her instinctual reaction. Violence. Gritting her teeth, she backed away from Adam.

Adam glanced at her sharply, a frown forming as he stopped in the center of the room. Forcing her body to relax, Madison straightened out of her fighting stance.

“Why are there apartments inside an office building?” Madison asked, desperately trying to divert attention away from her unmitigated freak out.

Adam’s scrutiny made her felt vulnerable; as if he knew everything she was feeling. But he didn’t react, just answered her question patiently.

“Sarif Industries Board of Directors aren’t all from Detroit. When a meeting is held, some of the more high profile board members prefer to remain anonymous during their stay. Security is difficult to arrange at a hotel. So Sarif converted a wing into apartments. It offers privacy and safety without the possibility of media attention.”

Madison tried to school her expression into careful blankness, but wasn’t sure she succeeded. She was having trouble maintaining any semblance of stability. Her emotions were unpredictable, altering wildly from day to day.

It wasn’t like she had a benchmark from which to measure her equanimity. Or lack thereof as the case may be. Madison knew she was edgy, stressed, but had no idea if her reaction was considered normal or she was just crazy.

“Is anyone else staying in this wing?” she asked, mainly to break the uncomfortable silence settling around the room like a heavy quilt.

Adam hadn’t spoken again, was instead eyeing her warily. Doubtless wondering if she’d attack him.

“No. It’s just you.”

Stepping towards her, Madison flinched at Adam’s closing proximity before she could stop herself. Frustration briefly shadowed Adam’s expression.

“If I’d wanted to hurt you, I could have. When you were unconscious, when you were in the medical bay. Numerous times, I could have taken advantage of your incapacity.”

Looking away, Madison had to acknowledge, Adam’s point was valid. Even after his assurances that no one would harm her, she hardly slept. Expecting at any time to be drugged and placed in another laboratory.

She’d even refused further pain relief, fearing such action. But after a week without incident, Madison conceded her paranoia, while not totally unfounded, was at least incorrect in this instance.

“I don’t trust anyone,” she whispered. Found it difficult to breathe past the pain squeezing her chest like a vice.

Adam’s frown deepened. “I understand why. You don’t need to trust me, but at least trust that I _could_ have exploited your vulnerability. This isn’t an elaborate ploy to ensnare you for nefarious purposes. You need help and I’m providing it. It’s that simple.”

How she would love to believe in simplicity, in the decency of others. Cynical she might be, but if she’d had even an ounce of that misanthropic attitude years ago, Baldwin would never had manipulated her. Or so Madison liked to believe.

Her natural proclivity to mistrust everyone was warring with her inclination to believe Adam’s assertions. He’d given her no reason to doubt him. So far.

He clicked back his glasses. Those luminous green eyes stared at her with a perceptiveness Madison found unnerving. It felt like Adam was inside the barriers she’d erected. As if he’d effortless swept aside the multiple layers of conceptual concrete in her mind, knowing exactly what she was thinking with an ease that was alarming.

“Can I show you features of the room?” he asked.

Adam motioned with his hand to a wall. He didn’t attempt to get past her, instead seeking permission from her before he moved. Madison nodded her assent.

Adam walked past her, she could almost reach out and touch him. This time, although it took a lot of effort, she didn’t move away, didn’t flinch from his vicinity. Clicking a pad on the wall she hadn’t noticed, a door slid open displaying a hidden wardrobe.

“Athene purchased some clothes for you,” Adam paused, looked into the wardrobe then back at her speculatively. “I guess they’ll be okay until you can buy something yourself.”

Looking over the outfits, Madison wondered if this ‘Athene’ had an eccentric taste in designs. High ruffled necks, bold primary colours, corset-like blouses. Not something she usually wore.

“Anything’s better than scrubs,” Madison said, indicating her unflattering green surgeon’s outfit.

Adam huffed out an amused laugh. Pressing a different button, another door slid open to exhibit a secluded shower.

“Economical,” she remarked.

“I’ll let you get settled. And changed,” Adam amended looking at her scrubs, “then I’ll come get you for your meeting with Sarif.”

Adam was almost to the door when Madison spoke.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. Simply. It was an understated declaration for the appreciation she felt, but hopefully Adam could hear the sincerity in her voice.

Turning back to look at her, a genuine smile, the first she’d seen, tugged on the corner of Adam’s mouth. It lifted the frown she though was perpetually melded onto his face, made his serious countenance appear far more malleable.

“You’re welcome,” Adam acknowledged just as simply, as he clicked his glasses back over his eyes.

When Adam closed the door, Madison eyed the shower alcove. Pressed a red and blue switch, hoping it was the hot and cold buttons. A stream of water spurted out of the nozzle above. Tentatively she tested the water, sighed when she felt it was the perfect temperature.

Undressing, Madison moaned in delight when she stepped into the shower and the water cascaded over her muscles, massaging her tired body. Shampoo, soap, conditioner, it was on the shelf to her right. Massaging the shampoo into her hair, Madison allowed her body to truly relax for the first time in a week.

The Doctor had finally discharged her, astounded at the rate her cells regenerated. Madison knew, unfortunately from experience, that even with extensive injuries like gunshots, she healed unnaturally fast.

Looking down, Madison rubbed the scar on her stomach from her most recent injury. Near her ribs, there was another scar, it looked like a burn scar, but Madison couldn’t remember what had happened. Possibly, it had occurred after Baldwin’s labs exploded, but she couldn’t be certain.

There were dozens of other scars marring the skin on her stomach and chest alone. Not to mention her legs and back. The raised flesh was like a Braille reminder of the violent life she’d led. Not that she needed it. She remembered how she got the scars. The blood and pain. Truthfully, she could do without the constant reminder.

After an excessive amount of time, Madison reluctantly turned off the shower. Standing in front of the wardrobe wrapped in a towel, she made a face at the outfits available. Unhooking some black pants and the simplest blouse she could find, Madison dressed and considered what she would say when she met Adam’s boss.

She was nervous about meeting the infamous David Sarif, founder of Sarif Industries and billionaire philanthropist. Her nano-augmentations would undoubtedly be a topic of conversation.

It made her wary, anxious, about David Sarif’s motives. She had a fair idea of what Sarif wanted in return for his assistance. Madison considered delaying the meeting, but she was never one to run from a confrontation.  She at least owed the man the courtesy of a discussion because she _was_ provisionally living inside his building.

A knock on the door. Adam had returned. Escorting her to the elevator, when the doors opened Adam stretched an arm out and waited for her to enter. A gentleman? Madison had to stifle a snort, she knew so few. She hesitated, then stepped into the enclosed space but quickly turned around.

Adam may not be looking to harm her, but Madison didn’t like having her back to anyone, it made her feel vulnerable. Adam’s eyes darted over her but didn’t comment. Stepping to the other side of the elevator, Adam was careful to keep his distance.

“Will you be stay? In the meeting,” Madison clarified.

Groaned internally when she heard how insecure the question sounded. But Adam just nodded patiently.

When the elevator came to a stop, Madison followed Adam out of the elevator. In front of her, a woman in her late fifties was sitting behind a desk. Smartly dressed in a grey pantsuit, neat hair, skilfully applied make-up, everything about the woman practically screamed secretary.

“Adam, Mr. Sarif is waiting for you and your visitor,” the woman relayed after a quick professional smile.

“Thanks Athene,” Adam rumbled next her.

Madison looked at the secretary sharply. This was the Athene who’d picked out her ‘eccentric’ clothes? Who’d have picked it?

Adam opened his Boss’s office doors. Stepping inside, Madison’s gaze was immediately drawn to the magnificent view of the skyline. Detroit from this height looked like a vast, intricate labyrinth, and while it was too far up to make out individual markers, the sheer vastness of the sprawling urban jungle took her breath away.

“No, no, stocks are holding steady this week. Listen ..”

David Sarif’s voice cut through the air, his gruff tones agitated. Madison turned away from the view to appraise Adam’s Boss. He was pacing behind his desk, talking in an earpiece, hands clasped behind his back.

Walking under the fluorescent lights, Sarif looked over at Adam, his blue eyes a whirlpool of irritation. Flicking his eyes over to her, Sarif gave her a quick apologetic smile before turning back around to pace anew.

Madison didn’t mind, it gave her the opportunity to scrutinize Sarif. He wore a gilded vest, black shirt with a white collar and suit pants, all expertly tailored. His black hair had a widow’s peak and was highlighted with silver on the sides.

Sarif’s long-legged stride was an easy gait, taking him across the room with an exuding self-assuredness. Madison could practically feel the force of his personality; vivacious, strong-willed and magnetic. Some people projected an indomitable confidence, a natural poise which made them great leaders. David Sarif was one of those people, and with the charisma he projected, Madison could see why he was head of a billion dollar company.

“Panchaea wasn’t Sarif Industries’ fault. We didn’t engineer the bio-chip so it’s ludacris to suggest every augmentation factory be shut down. We’ll lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if they do that.”

Sarif wiped a hand over his face, expression haggard as his shoulders slumped. That Panchaea word again. She must ask Adam about it.

Looking around with interest Madison noticed the definite masculine undertones to the office in the dark furniture and baseball memorabilia. The office was expensively decorated. An enormous screen had a baseball game playing, but the sound was muted.

A large black marble statue dominated a corner of the room. Madison squinted, trying to determine what it was. It probably cost a small fortune.

Sarif’s desk was a beautiful mahogany wood. On it sat mounds of paperwork, stray baseballs and an ornate chessboard with ivory chess pieces. Madison’s eyes lingered on the chess set, appreciating the intricate design.

Following Sarif’s movements around the room, when he passed the inbuilt fireplace, her eyes strayed above to linger on the huge portrait of Sarif. Madison bit her lip to stop from smiling. Eccentric billionaires and self-portraits. That was a new one.

“You can tell Hamley he can shove …” Sarif paused, shot her a quick look, blew out an agitated breath, then calmly resumed his conversation. “Tell Hamley he cannot have access to my production line.”

Madison looked over to Adam, who was watching his Boss pace around the room. Narrowing her eyes, she looked above Adam’s head. In gold plated metal, hexagonal shapes sprawled across the ceiling. The affect was striking. And vaguely familiar.

Feeling her scrutiny Adam turned to look at her. Light crawled across his face, highlighting the deep grooves of the imprint on his forehead. Frowning, Madison’s eyes darted between the imprint and the ceiling.

Recognition sparked, bright as a flare, until it petered out to be replaced with an icy cold shock. Adam’s lip curled as he caught the direction of her gaze. His jaw flexed once before his expression hardened. Sarif had stamped Adam with his own branding. Jesus.

“Sorry about that,” Sarif declared, startling her.

Madison blinked as Sarif made his way over to her, trying to rearrange her scattered thoughts. As Sarif stretched his right hand out, she looked over his augmented arm with interest. Silver, high-quality, but with the most beautiful and complex pattern, more decorative than to serve any specific purpose.

“I’m David Sarif. You must be Madison Turner. It’s nice to finally meet you,” Sarif intoned, shaking her hand.

Sarif dropped her hand and stepped back to appraise her. A keen intelligence shone from his blue eyes, a discerning shrewdness which matched his powerful aura.

“Please sit,” Sarif said, indicating the chair in front of his desk.

Walking around his desk, Sarif sat on a comfortable leather chair with a quiet groan. “How do you like your accommodation?” Sarif asked.

Madison stared at Sarif for the space of a heartbeat before flicking her gaze over to the hand-made chess set. She enjoyed chess, appreciated the intellectual stimulation of pitting herself against an unknown opponent.

And this conversation had all the nuances of an intricate game of chess. A verbal thrust and parry, testing out each other’s weaknesses. Sarif had made the opening move, trying to set the strategic flow of the game. He’d used his pawn, asking about her accommodation, possibly trying to lull her into a false sense of security.

“It’s good thank you sir,” she answered respectfully.

Smiling, Sarif waved his augment hand. “Call me David,” he insisted.

Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, Madison wasn’t at ease using first names for her superiors.

“So,” Sarif began, “Adam filled me in on your situation.”

Madison activated her Social Enhancer to scan David Sarif. Heartbeat slightly elevated, pupils dilated, and despite his relaxed posture, Madison was able to see the muscles in his shoulders flex. It was difficult to interpret, but Madison believed the reaction was likely the result of his previous conversation, rather than her presence.

Clasping his hands in front of him, Sarif cocked his head to the side. “You’re welcome to stay for as long as you need.”

Was that Sarif moving his Rook? Reminding her she was staying in his building, reliant on his help?

While playing chess, it was generally a good idea to block the other person’s Rook so they couldn’t immediately participate in the game. A common strategic goal was to place a Rook on the first rank of an open file. From this position, the Rook was relatively unexposed to risk but could exert control on every square on the file.

It was what Sarif was trying to do, regulate the flow of the conversation, subtly reminding her _he_ had control. Madison just wished Sarif would stop being demure, skirting around the real reason she was here.

“In exchange for what?” Madison asked bluntly.

Gossamer threads of tension wound their strands around the individuals in the room. Sarif’s expression sharpened as a slight frown marred his face. Madison could practically feel the cogs turning behind his eyes, recalculating his strategy.

Didn’t expect her to move her Bishop quite so quickly? While a Rook was generally worth two Pawns more than a Bishop, if moved correctly, it could lull the other player into a false sense of security. By moving her Bishop into the open, she’d brusquely bypassed the benign pleasantries in an attempt to get to the real reason she was there. Madison had surprised Sarif, something which she suspected, didn’t happen often.

Madison wasn’t a fool, she knew Sarif wanted; accessing to her nanites. He already had samples of her blood, what else could he possibly want? And if asked, would she give it to him? Terrified of Baldwin recapturing her, Madison knew she’d agree to a lot of Sarif’s stipulations to stop that from happening.

If she refused Sarif’s demands, where did that leave her? She could attempt to survive on her own, but Madison knew the odds of remaining undetected were slim.

“I was hoping a select few of my scientists could examine you and take some more samples.”

Adam emitted rumble of disapproval beside her. “Sarif,” he snapped, voice cutting through the air like a whip.

Sarif appeared unfazed by Adam’s tone, didn’t even look at his Head of Security, but maintained eye contact with her.

A bitter smile spread over her face. Her King was under attack, almost ready to be in-check, but so was Sarif’s. At the end of their game, they’d both made their moves. Had both played their best game, their strategy laid bare between them. Both knew what the other wanted.

It was a stalemate though, because both couldn’t make their next move without conceding to the other. Despite the impasse, Madison always knew she’d agree to Sarif’s stipulations. She’d just make damn sure he earned his access to the nanites in her system.

“If I agree, I have conditions of my own,” Madison pointed out.

Holding her breath, Madison wondered if Sarif would agree. Or if he’d take what he wanted by force.

“Which are?” Sarif asked, unable to keep the tremor of excitement out of his voice.

“Only a few people can have access to my blood. Colonel Baldwin is a very resourceful man. I know how he works. My team was successful in tracking down every rogue Aug. The man has numerous connections. If Colonel Baldwin discovers my whereabouts, he won’t ask nicely if I’d like to re-join his illegal laboratory. He will send his elite private soldiers into Sarif Industries to intercept me. They will kill anyone who gets in their way.”

Madison stopped to give Sarif a hard stare. He needed to take what she was saying seriously. Paling slightly Sarif nodded for her to continue.

“So it’s in both our interests that this doesn’t happen. In exchange for taking samples from me, you will help me create a new identity. I.D, bank accounts, history, everything. Lastly, you can have samples of my blood, tissue, whatever, but I will not be experimented on. You cannot perform any tests on my person.”

Looking pointedly at the chess set, Madison smiled ruefully. “Your move.”

Sarif looked down at the chess pieces in confusion. As his eyes roved over the set, understanding coalesced in his expression. He barked out a laugh, sandpaper rough, burnishing the rough edges of tension in the room.

“Who won?” Sarif asked, blue eyes dancing in amusement. Waving his augmented hand, he shrugged. “I think we both protected our Queens.”

Sitting back in the chair, laughter faded from Sarif’s face as he studied her. “So you’ll allow us to take samples? In exchange for protection and a new identity. It’s a deal,” Sarif confirmed.

Relief threaded through her system upon hearing those words. But had she just made a deal with the devil?

Hesitating, Sarif glanced over at Adam, eyeing him warily, before turning back to address her.

“Doctor Megan Reed, Head of the Neuro-Scientific Research on Augmentations, will be the person who will take samples.”

The rigidity in his posture warned her that Adam was not pleased with this development. The air around him crackled like sparks from a live wire. Madison didn’t have time to respond to this announcement because Sarif stood up, walking around his desk to stand in front of her.

“It really was lovely to meet you. I haven’t been this entertained playing a fictitious game of chess. I will inform Dr. Reed about our arrangement. Adam will arrange a meeting with her.”

Madison smiled automatically, not quite believing Sarif hadn’t outmanoeuvred her. Looking over at Adam, Sarif spoke.

“Once you escort Madison back to her living quarters I need to speak with you.”

Adam gave Sarif a stiff nod. Animosity abraded against the two men, bleeding out until it encompassed the room. Gesturing for her to walk out, Madison saw the unpleasant look Adam shot his Boss before turning to follow her out the room.

“Goodbye Adam,” Athene smiled on their way out.

Grunting, Adam acknowledged the salutation with a curt ‘goodbye’ of his own. In the elevator, Adam crossed his arms, his irritation scratching at her frayed nerves.

“What’s Panchaea?” she asked, eyeing Adam as his mood darkened with the same turbulence as an approaching storm.

Looking down at her, Adam opened his mouth, shook his head and shut it again. “Of course you wouldn’t know,” he muttered.

Uncrossing his arms, Adam turned to face her. “Panchaea was a research station in Antarctica.”

Biting her lip, Madison waited for Adam to continue, regretting her question. She felt the fury emanating from him in waves, brushing up against her with the same destructive wrath of a fire.

“A few months ago, Augs experienced a simultaneous series of glitches which triggered a few minutes of acute pain and disorientation. The cause was a biochip malfunction. News reports urged those affected to visit a L.I.M.B clinic for a free replacement. What people didn’t know, was that the replacement biochips were deliberately defective.”

Scrubbing a polymer hand over his face, Adam leaned back into the elevator.

“After the majority of people replaced their biochip, a signal was broadcast inducing hallucinations. People couldn’t distinguish the difference between loved ones and a threat. Hundreds of thousands of people were injured or killed. The signal was shut down eventually, but the event caused such widespread damage that now Augs are hunted, brutalized and generally treated like second-class citizens.”

“Just in the U.S?” Madison asked.

Adam’s mouth dipped down into a grimace. “No. The signal affected people around the globe.”

A wave of shock washed over Madison as she imagined the horror and devastation of such an event.

“Fuck,” Madison muttered. It was the only appropriate sentiment she could think of.

“Pretty much,” Adam agreed.

“Who was responsible,” Madison asked.

There was an imperceptible pause before Adam gave a shrug, too casual to be anything other than feigned.

“I’m not sure.”

Madison frowned. It was the first time Adam had lied to her. She didn’t need her Social Enhancer to tell her that. But she didn’t question him. It wasn’t her place and she had her own secrets.

Silence pressed in around the elevator until the chime signalled they were on her floor. Adam escorted her back to her room, a silent indomitable presence next to her.

“Are you okay with Sarif’s terms?” Adam asked abruptly.

Madison stopped next to her door, considering her answer. “Nothing is free in this world. The deal I struck with Mr. Sarif? I expected that to happen. I need your Boss’s resources, just as he needs my nanites. Quid pro quo and all that.”

Adam was standing stock still, completely immobile in that unusual way only heavily augmented individuals can. Only unlike others, Madison could actually see movement, in the steady rise and fall of his chest, an artery ticking in his neck.

There was a penetrating intensity to Adam, an unnameable characteristic which rendered his augmentations inconsequential. As if the sheer force of his personality, his willpower, made him powerful, not the lethal weapons fused to his skin.

“That didn’t really answer my question,” Adam persisted.

Sighing, Madison leaned against the wall. “Like I said to Mr. Sarif, as long as I’m not asked to undergo any procedure or experimentation, he can take all the samples he wants. If I wasn’t comfortable with the terms, I wouldn’t make them,” she replied, steely emphasis working its way through her voice.

Madison didn’t add that she thought the likelihood of Sarif’s scientists replicating her DNA were minimal.

Adam snorted, “I just thought I’d check.”

_/_I_/_

Adam watched Madison close the door to her apartment before he turned away. Allowed the subdued anger he’d held in check some free reign. Stalking back to the elevator, Adam roughly keyed the code to once again make the trip back to his Boss’s office.

Fucking Sarif. He’d practically been salivating all over his expensively tailored vest when Madison had agreed, and he used the term agreed loosely, to Sarif’s stipulations.

The doors opened up and he stalked past a startled Athene. Felt her disapproval following him, like a yapping Chihuahua, into Sarif’s office. Sarif may be able to do no wrong in her eyes, but Adam didn’t feel that way. In his eyes, Sarif had deliberately misled him. Again.

“Satisfied with yourself?” Adam asked without preamble, before he could even see Sarif.

Sarif propped an elbow on his desk and watched Adam with carefully concealed irritation. Adam walked to the edge of the desk, flicked his glasses back so that he could glare at Sarif without interference.

“Adam, I won’t talk to you while you tower over me. Sit down, calm the fuck down, then we can talk,” Sarif snapped.

Taking in a deep breath, Adam watched his Boss turn away from him to type on his keyboard with feigned casualness. His HUD informed him of Sarif’s elevated heartrate. It wasn’t fear, Sarif wasn’t afraid of him, he was just extremely agitation.

The tapping of Sarif’s keystrokes drilled into his brain, creating a build-up of pressure until Adam thought his head might explode. His anger burnt hot and fast but never lasted, it was slowly burning itself out until only the embers remained.

Taking a deliberate step back, Adam sat in the chair opposite Sarif and waited. Like some fucking schoolboy. The embers of his anger began to stroke back to life as Sarif continued to ignore him until he finished typing. Adam was about to open his mouth, but Sarif turned to look at him, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

“Now, what is it you wanted to _discuss_ ,” Sarif asked, with emphasis on the last word. _Like two mature adults_ , was what his Boss meant.

Adam ground his teeth together in an effort to remain calm. “You agreed to repress your natural urge to manipulate by offering Madison shelter with no strings attached. Couldn’t help yourself through could you?” Adam sneered.

Pushing back his chair, Sarif got up, grabbed a baseball and pointed a finger at Adam. “Don’t be so overdramatic. Madison could have said no.”

“And risk being shoved out the door? Yeah, she had _a lot_ of options open to her.”

Snapping a heel around to face him, Sarif scoffed derisively. “She knew the price for my assistance even before she stepped into this room. I’m asking for a few samples. Nothing more. In exchange she gets a new life. The deal is skewed in her favor. By the time we set Madison up with a new identity and money, I’m the one who’s out of pocket. We take on the risk while she’s staying here.”

“But that doesn’t give you the right to manipulate her,” Adam ground out.

Anger flashed in Sarif’s eyes, and like a spitting cobra, he advanced. “It gives me every right,” Sarif bellowed.

Breathing hard, Sarif glared at him, but something else besides anger flashed across his face. Desperation.

“I’m losing Adam,” Sarif whispered, appearing to deflate like a balloon. Shoulders sagging, Sarif turned away.

“Panchaea will destroy everything I’ve worked for. The government is under mounting pressure to shut down every augmentation company, production line, clinic. I’m just keeping afloat. So yes, when I saw an opportunity in Madison I took it. If that makes me a manipulating bastard then so be it.”

Adam grimaced. “Jesus Boss, why didn’t you tell me.”

Whipping around, agitation creased Sarif’s brow. “What could you do Adam? Beat up every Senator against augmentation?” Sarif asked with a wry smile.

Sarif waved away the vulnerability Adam saw, closing the cracks which had briefly opened up in his normally stoic disposition.

“Do you know what container yard Madison came from? There can’t be too many near where you first encountered her. Try to discover if her container is still there. I want to examine that capsule she awoke in. I don’t doubt the validity of her story but we need to stay ahead of this Baldwin character. She needs to remain undetected until we create a new identity. Until that time get Frank to look into this Colonel.”

Adam nodded but didn’t move. Hesitating, he looked over at Sarif’s figure. Light refracted off the television screen, highlighting the stern expression of his face. He didn’t want to push his Boss when he was obviously stressed, but Adam wasn’t finished.

“I’m not keen on Megan’s involvement either,” Adam added.

Turning around slowly, Sarif raised an eyebrow. “Who did you expect would be in charge of researching Madison’s blood? Liam the courier?”

Sarif made a displeased noise in the back of his throat. “I know you and Megan have unresolved issues but there’s no one else who could possibly analyze Madison’s blood with the same skill.”

A growl of displeasure worked up his throat, but Adam stopped it from escaping. He knew Megan was the only logical choice to analyze nanites, but Adam didn’t trust her. He still didn’t know why she’d left her position at VersaLife to return to her old position.

Adam sighed and stood up, choosing not to talk about Megan. Sarif couldn’t be dissuaded so he’d be wasting his breath even trying. Before he walked out, Adam looked over at his Boss.

“Boss, if you need anything. To talk, or … maybe I could beat someone up for you,” Adam offered.

A small amused huff escaped, but it didn’t lift the concern from Sarif’s expression. “I’ll let you know.”


	11. Chapter 9

“ _Jensen_ ,” Pritchard barked over his InfoLink.

Ducking behind a container, Adam ignored the analyst and instead opted to watch a guard stroll leisurely past.

“ _Jensen_ ,” Pritchard snapped again. “ _I don’t converse with you just so I can hear myself talk_.”

The Cochlear implant component of the InfoLink Telecommunications Package sent audio transmissions directly into his ear canal. During missions, the InfoLink was convenient, especially since the information Pritchard fed Adam had saved his life on more than a few occasions. But hearing Pritchard’s nasal voice inside his skull, bouncing around like a ball he couldn’t catch, irritated him immensely. And since Sub-Vocal Communication came standard with the InfoLink Package, Pritchard knew Adam could answer him, even if he wasn’t able to physically speak.

Watching the guard walk away, Adam jogged in the opposite direction.

“What can I do for you Francis?” Adam asked, mock cheerful.

There was an infinitesimal pause, in which Adam could practically hear Pritchard’s clogs turning.

“ _I thought you’d like to know what I discovered about the Army Colonel you wanted me to investigate_ ,” Pritchard replied, evidentially choosing to ignore Adam’s tone.

Adam grinned, slightly disappointed that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to rile the analyst.

“I’m listening. Shoot,” Adam remarked.

“ _I don’t hear any bullets, so I’m assuming your poor choice of words is directed at me_.”

Taking a running leap, Adam scaled a chain-link fence, dropping into a roll on the other side. The light from a nearby lamppost flickered temperamentally, before winking out completely. It didn’t concern Adam, who could see just as well in complete darkness as he could if it were midday.

“ _Well, I must thank you for setting such an assiduously difficult task. You asked me to not only hack into the U.S Army’s databases, which for your information, has some of the best encryptions in the world, but you also required me to find information on possibly the most clandestine unit in the Military_.”

The container yard’s two-story command building came into view. Adam was vaguely listening to Pritchard. If the situation warranted the expediency, he wouldn’t hesitate to interrupt Pritchard to hurry him along. But, since Pritchard obviously felt the need to inform him of the complexity involved in the task, Adam didn’t interject. Behind that perfunctory protest, Adam knew Pritchard enjoyed the challenge of hacking into a network which required his full attention. Pritchard could hack most severs, networks and databases blindfolded.

“But that wouldn’t stop such a talented man as yourself,” Adam commented distractedly.

Activating his Smart Vision, Adam’s vision morphed until he saw in translucent shades of blue, like an X-Ray Imager. The Wall-Penetrating Imager was part of his Vision Enchantment and used a combination of thermal imaging and terahertz radiation to allow him to see through physical barriers like walls. As Adam scanned the building, he saw only one Guard on the first floor. Good. It was the second floor he wanted to access.

Pritchard scoffed, the small sound managing to convey how unimpressed he was with Adam’s sarcasm.

“ _Do you want to hear what I’ve found or not?”_

Adam blinked and his vision returned to its normal perception. “Of course.”

“ _Colonel Charles Baldwin, born May 21 st 1976 in Chicago, Illinois. Mother and Father deceased. No siblings. Has a Master’s Degree in Neurology and Mechanical Engineering. Enrolled in the Army in 1998 at age 22. He was heavily involved in Military augmentation, becoming the head scientist and eventual commander for the Black Ops Augmentation Division. He wrote a number of scientific papers on the benefits of using augmentations in the Armed Forces. Some were quite controversial. I’ve sent the papers to your inbox if you want to read them. Currently he’s listed as ‘deployed’, but I can’t find out where. And it’s not for lack of trying. That’s all generic information, but that’s all I can find.”_

Leaning against a container, Adam listened to Pritchard’s findings. He wasn’t surprised Pritchard hadn’t been able to uncover much about the Colonel. Experimentation on soldiers would be frowned upon, even in a culture like the Army. Since this Colonel was experimenting on soldiers, he’d ensure the he, along with the location of his covert laboratory, would be almost impossible to find. Still, Adam felt the slight sting of disappointment when even Pritchard couldn’t find useful information.

“Thanks Pritchard,” Adam relayed, walking around the building to determine if there was another entrance.

“ _Jensen, is there a reason you failed to mention why our houseguest, Lieutenant Madison Turner, was part of this Black Ops Augmentation Division_?”

Adam ground his teeth together in agitation. Pritchard was too fucking inquisitive for his own good. Although, Adam recognized that it was highly improbable that Pritchard wouldn’t discover Madison’s involvement with the Unit.

“It’s not your concern Francis. Drop it,” Adam responded quietly, irritation turning his voice into a low growl.

“ _I rather think it is my business._ _Lieutenant Turner has a pretty impressive service record, I’ll give her that. But she’s wanted for questioning by Police and for desertion by the Army. I’ll have to tell Sarif about this,”_ Pritchard sniffed gratingly.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Military Police, there’s a difference,” he corrected. “Go ahead. Sarif already knows.”

Silence spanned the InfoLink as Pritchard digested this.

“ _I’m still obliged to inform Sarif of my findings_ ,” Pritchard reiterated in a huff.

Adam eyed the second story landing, his retinal prosthesis automatically calculating angles, assessing weakness of the structure and possible infiltration points. Identifying the easiest access point, Adam turned away to answer Pritchard.

“Whatever Pritchard. Thanks for the information,” Adam responded.

He disconnected before the analyst could say anything else. The sarcastic remarks rolling around his tongue were less likely to escape if he didn’t have Pritchard droning in his ear.

Above the building, the sky was full of stars, flickering so brightly they looked like crackling embers. A canopy of midnight blue stretched across the sky while the barest hint of moonlight bleached the container yard, bathing the space in a soft grey hue.

Dropping his gaze from the skyline Adam stepped back into the shadows of the containers. Crouching down, the advanced polymers and lightweight metals of his artificial limbs bunched together. In anticipation of his next move, the electro-stimulated plastic cables whirred silently with the tiny motors inside his legs,.

Adam ran towards the building, his legs pumping fiercely as he reached speeds well beyond that of even the fastest Olympic sprinter. To any bystander he’d look like a black blur, a spectral demon in the night.

The high-density myomer muscle in his limbs bunched as Adam effortlessly leapt towards the second story. The shock-absorbing gel matrix in his knee joints and hip mounts allowed him to land almost silently on the balcony. Quickly, Adam flattened himself against the building and cocked his head, listening to see if he’d alerted anyone.

When no alarm sounded and he heard no sound of running steps, Adam peeled away from the wall and approached the exterior door. There was a simple lock on the door, with no card reader attached. Adam grabbed the handle and pressed down. It was locked but that didn’t bother him. Adam just continued to apply pressure until he felt the metal groan, then snap completely. He’d rather not leave evidence of a forced entry, but it was preferable to rendering a guard unconscious. That would cause more trouble than finding a mysteriously broken door handle.

Inside, the building was dark, the few overhead lights cast shadows into the corners, the furniture melding into distorted grey shapes. Activating his Smart Vision, Adam looked below, to the first floor to ensure the guard was still at his post. Seeing the man with his legs up on a chair, reading, Adam deactivated the Smart Vision, closed the door behind him and moved into the building. He confidently manoeuvred around the darkened space, approaching an office in the rear corner. Luckily, this door was unlocked.

The office was cluttered mess, nary a surface wasn’t covered with folders, sheets of paper, coffee cups or PDA devices. Adam ignored the clutter and walked over to the computer. A sinuous blue sphere bounced around the screen until he tapped on the keyboard. A log-on tab confronted him, asking him to input a username and password. Adam settled himself in the chair and attempted to bypass the log-on screen. Keying a few basic command prompts, he hit enter.

Drumming his fingers on the table, Adam waited to see if the rudimentary reset approach would work. By design, most systems had a default setting which wouldn’t allow him to reset the network log-in. So Adam was surprised when the Administer Demand Prompt tab appeared, giving him administrative access to the entire network.

Rolling his shoulders, Adam allowed himself a quick grin before delving into the records. That didn’t even require any advanced hacking.

Not that Adam couldn’t hack the terminal if needed. Implanted in his cranium was a microcomputer module featuring a series of processors and databases, programmed with multiple code-breaking and counter-cryptography subroutines. It had taken some time, but once he’d adapted to the implant, Adam learnt how to navigate most software barriers and control pathways with instinctive skill and speed.

He didn’t possess the same level of proficiency as a hacker like Pritchard. However, Adam found he could override most electronic sub-systems, penetrate extensive firewalls, and instinctively determine ‘traps’ set by its creators which were designed to expose intrusions.

Initiating a search for container 104, Adam sat back and waited for the results, keeping a wary eye on the guard below. Adam hoped he wasn’t breaking in unnecessarily. This was the only container yard even remotely close to where he’d found Madison.

When the computer signalled the return of the results, Adam leaned forward. His elation at finding that there was a container 104, soon turned to confusion when he scanned the container’s itinerary. Container 104 was no longer in the shipping yard, it had been shipped out two days ago. A few months ago, the container mysteriously appeared in the rotation. There was no record of where it originated, or where the container was scheduled to dock. When he clicked on destination, he received an error message.

Adam swore quietly when he clicked on the documentation link and saw Belltower’s distinctive logo.

_/_I_/_

Excluding the two women sitting eight tables back from Madison’s position, Sarif Industries cafeteria was empty. Using her fork, Madison swirled the food around on her plate. Stranded inside the apartment for the last few days had been stifling. She appreciated the sense of safety, but wondered how long it would be before she could get her new identity and disappear.

“…only been back for a few weeks, why do you think she returned? I heard a rumor that the job at VersaLife paid an extra hundred grand on top of what she got here,” one of the women behind Madison whispered.

Poking her fork at a soggy carrot, Madison rolled her eyes. Office gossip. An almost pathological pastime of most workers.

Despite the women’s attempts to whisper, Madison could clearly hear the conversation. Not that she was trying to, her sensitive hearing meant that she couldn’t help but listen to the discussion.

“I don’t know. Who takes a job for two months at a rival company then gets to waltz back into their old position? Mr. Sarif always had a soft spot for Doctor Reed.”

Madison stilled and angled her head to the side. She was never one to listen to gossip, honestly couldn’t care less who was sleeping with whom. But the mention of Doctor Reed, the woman who would be in charge of research on her nanites, had piqued her interest.

“Too soft a spot if you ask me Laura,” the other woman sneered. “I heard that she faked her own kidnapping. And I also heard that Jensen requested to be augmented after the attack so that he could track down Megan’s kidnappers.”

The woman named Laura made a disagreeing sound. “I don’t know about that last part. I think Adam would have died without becoming augmented. And he never seemed particularly happy about those augmentations.”

The nameless woman sniffed in displeasure at her co-workers contradictions.

“Yeah? Well why would he then turn the world upside down looking for Reed? Poor Jensen, together with Megan for years and in the end she was married to her research.”

Madison raised her eyebrows in interest. Adam had obviously been romantically involved with this Doctor Reed, and it didn’t sound like their relationship ended amicably. Which was why Adam hadn’t reacted favorably when Sarif informed him Reed would be the researcher in charge of taking her samples. The other references, the attack or kidnapping, Madison didn’t understand.

One thing she couldn’t fail to infer, was how Adam had become augmented. She’d assumed, incorrectly, that he’d chosen to become so heavily augmented. While Madison wouldn’t take office anecdotal evidence as a factual account, it did appear to have an echo of truth to some aspects. Not that Madison was against amplification of human beings through technology, she was a product of that advancement after all.

“Hi,” a voice in front of her called.

Startled, Madison whipped her head towards whoever had spoken. She gripped the side of the wooden table in an effort not to launch herself from the seat and stab the fork into the stranger’s neck.

The table groaned, before the edge broke off suddenly as she exerted additional pressure. Splinters embedded into her fingers as the end of the table snapped off. Madison held the offending piece of wood in her hand, wincing as the loud crack echoed around the room.

Looking up, Madison saw a woman staring at her in open-mouthed astonishment. Brown eyes darted between the shattered edge of the table and the piece of wood in Madison’s hand. The stranger closed her mouth, shot a disbelieving look at her, opened her mouth again only to clamp it shut.

What did you say when that happened? Yes, that was that actually wood in your hand, you’re not happy to see them. Perhaps not.

The stranger’s gaze lingered on the table, before she shook her head and slowly walked towards Madison, obviously having misgivings about being friendly. A smile rearranged itself on her face as she looked Madison in the eye.

“I’m Faridah Malik, the chief pilot at Sarif Industries.” The pilot held her hand out. “Everyone just calls me Malik.”

Placing the piece of wood on the table in front of her, Madison brushed away the splinters from her palm. The action gave her time to compose herself. She didn’t normally like people touching her, even with such a simple action like a handshake. She never used to be that way, but having spent months being treated as a specimen rather than a person, she’d developed an aversion to unwanted contact.

Stretching her hand out, Madison pasted a smile on her face and shook hands with the pilot. Malik smiled, showing a set of perfectly straight white teeth.

“Quite a grip,” Malik noticed as she massaged her hand.

Madison just stopped herself from grimacing. Good work keeping a low profile. First snapping the table and now exerting more pressure on this woman’s hand than she should have. Malik stared at her expectantly, before Madison realized she’d never introduced herself.

“Sorry, I’m Madison.”

Smiling, Malik pulled the chair out opposite her, but hesitated before she sat down.

“Oh, can I sit?” Malik asked, gesturing to the chair

Hesitating, Madison waved her hand in acceptance, eyeing the woman suspiciously as she sat down. Malik’s brown eyes shot to the broken table end before settling on Madison’s face.

“I’ve seen you in here a few times so I thought I’d introduce myself,” Malik explained.

Activating her vision enhancement, Madison was surprised to discover Malik only had a cranial implant. The neural augmentation Malik had enhanced reaction time and provided a sharper optical acuity. Most other pilots opted to augment arms and replace their eyes to give themselves an edge in the highly competitive aviation industry.

Clasping her hands in front of her, Malik smiled. There was something innately convivial in Malik’s expression, a genuine warmth that Madison wasn’t sure how to respond to.

In her line of work, she’d seen the worst of humanity; the depravity, the senseless violence, the vicious cruelty perpetrated by others. It had darkened her outlook, made Madison suspicious of everyone’s motives. So she honestly had no idea how to respond to the magnanimity she saw in Malik’s chocolate brown eyes.

“First week on the job?” Malik asked, seemingly untroubled when Madison didn’t naturally pick up the threads of the conversation.

Madison tapped her fingers in a slow rhythm as she examined the pilot. Her black hair was short, arranged in a stylish cut, and she had a small mole above her right lip. Her skin was slightly dusky, her features vaguely Middle-Eastern. Despite her American accent, Madison thought she was likely of Arabic descent.

Her lip curled in ironic amusement. “You could say that. How do you know I’m new?” she asked, frowning slightly, trying not to read too much into Malik’s questioning.

An amused snort escaped. “No one wants to work for an augmentation company anymore. So it’s easy to spot a new hire,” Malik shrugged. “So what did Mr. Sarif hire you for?”

Shifting, Madison shrugged. “Security consultant.” The lie rolled smoothly off her tongue.

Malik smiled, “Ah. Adam…”

Madison was never to learn what Malik was about to say. The distinct swish as a door opened had Malik tapering off the conversation. As Madison angled her head towards the sound, the faintly metallic tang she came to identify as Adam’s individual scent markers preceded his entrance.

Usually, Madison maintained situational awareness in every environment. Malik had managed to surprise her, approaching to within a foot of her positon. It didn’t happen often, and it was a reminder that she’d relaxed a little too much in the last few days.

Adam walked up to their table and stood silently next to them. His eyes flicked to the broken table edge before looking to Madison. His brow arched inquiringly but he remained silent. Madison wasn’t in the mood to explain anyway.

Malik smiled. “Hey Adam.”

Adam turned his shaded gaze towards Malik, a brief smile flitting over his expression.

“Malik,” he rumbled, before turning to face Madison. “Your appointment with Doctor Reed is in ten minutes. I’ll escort you.”

Out the corner of her eye, Madison saw Malik raise a curious eyebrow. Madison tensed briefly, watching Adam’s eyes rotate behind his glasses as he scanned her. Forcing herself to relax, she took a deep breath, allowing her heart to return to its normal rhythm. Memories of the numerous unconsented tests carried out on her flashed unbidden across Madison’s mind. It was an unwelcome deviation into the past, one which she didn’t appreciate.

Folding his arms across his chest, Adam waited patiently for her rise. Gritting her teeth, Madison pushed back on the memory and stood up.

Turning, Madison inclined her head. “It was nice to meet you Malik.”

The pilot smiled, her teeth flashing brightly against her grey flight-suit. “Likewise.”

Madison detected no malice in Malik’s declaration but she couldn’t help but think the other woman found her more than a little odd. All things considered, Madison was just relieved she hadn’t stabbed the pilot with her fork.

_/_I_/_

The machinery was like a soft whisper in the background, the continuously monotonous echo oddly soothing. Florescent lights brightened the room to an almost painful level, highlighting the monochromatic consistency of the interior.

Yellow and black hologram images lit up one entire wall. X-Rays of the human body, numbering in the hundreds, adorned every surface. Each X-Ray displayed an augmentation attached to the human host. Arm and leg prosthesis, re-breather, cranial implants. It was surprisingly fascinating to see how augmentations joined to a person’s body beneath the epidermis.

Madison eyed a sad looking plant dangling over a white pot, before letting her gaze touch on the other items in the room. Besides the plant, no other personalized items could be seen in the entire room. Despite it obviously being someone’s well-equipped office and lab, it was a cold and clinical space which lacked any kind of warmth.

Hearing a door close to her right, Madison’s head swung towards the sound, the heady scent of a rather overpowering floral perfume preceded the entrance of Doctor Reed. In the process of rolling off gloves, she didn’t immediately notice the two occupants standing just inside the door.

When Reed glanced over, she faltered, making a small sound of surprise. Madison could hear her heartrate increase, the steady rhythm faltering as adrenaline inundated her system. Holding a hand to her chest, Reed blew out a nervous breath.

“Good Lord Adam, you scared me,” Reed admonished.

Next to her Madison felt Adam’s slight shrug. “I knocked,” he replied.

To Madison’s finely tuned sense of hearing, Adam’s normally raspy tones sounded deeper, like he was trying to speak through a throat filled with gravel.

Doctor Reed flicked the glove off her hand, the slight twang as it left her skin only seemed to highlight the thrumming tension in the room. Placing the used gloves in the bin, Reed’s eyes flicked almost dismissively towards Madison before settling on Adam.

Straightening her already immaculate attire, Reed cocked her head at Adam, waiting for him to speak. Adam turned towards her, his jaw tightening with such pressure Madison imagined she could hear his molars grind together from supressed agitation.

“Madison this is Doctor Megan Reed.”

Walking over to her Reed held her hand out. Madison took the scientist’s hand, startled by how cool her palm felt. After they shook hands, Reed stepped back, raking an appraising gaze over her.

A calculating intelligence shone out of eyes with the same sharp edge as a cut emerald. Light brown hair with a hint of auburn tones was parted on her left side and pulled back into a bun. The sharp angles of her face, highlighted by the severe style of her hair, made Reed’s attractive attributes a blunt instrument. She had the features to be a very striking woman, but she almost seemed to use the harsh features to her disadvantage, hiding behind a clinical detachment.

“Nice to meet you,” she intoned, a quick, practiced smile escaping before it was covered by professional aloofness.

Madison inclined her head, but didn’t return the salutation. Her Mom had taught her, if you couldn’t say anything nice….

When Reed faced Adam, Madison detected a kind of reserved animosity flowing between them. Adam was staring at Reed in defiance, a silent challenge in the tilt of his head. The skin around Reed’s eyes tightened and in her gaze lurked a bitter resentment. Madison shifted uncomfortably, breaking the silent staring match between the two when they both looked over to her.

Reed drilled her with a glare before clearing her expression. Turning around she walked towards a machine on the back wall. Flicking a switch, the machine whirred to life. Reed looked up at her, motioning with her hand.

“Step inside so I can take a full body scan.”

Hesitating, Madison eyed the machine warily. Set against the wall, the X-Ray machine was the height of two large men. Spanning a few feet across, the length of the imaging generators were surprising. What did this woman take X-Rays of? Augmented livestock?

“What are you scanning for?” Madison asked without moving.

Reed stopped what she was doing and turned around, annoyance rippling over her expression before she could cover it.

“It’s .. complicated,” she finished, not quite a sneer but her lip curled unpleasantly.

Madison bared her teeth in a cold smile. “Explain and we’ll see if I can keep up.”

Reed’s eyes narrowed, studying her silently, visibly unimpressed with being asked to explain her methods. Madison stared back, felt the brittle strained calm in her posture match the aggravation chipping away at the back of her mind.

Madison acknowledged that being back in a laboratory was interfering with her emotions. Agitated already, Reed’s dismissive attitude combined with her unwillingness to explain procedures didn’t help. 

Straightening her lab coat, Reed sighed. “I’m taking a digital image of the internal composition of your system. The machinery behind me uses a mixture of X-Ray, MRI, CT and ultra-sound imaging. Doctor Lambert mentioned you have a possible augmentation along your spine, and I want to know what it is and whether it influences your nanites. From what I know about nano-augmentation, once the nanites have been installed in the host’s body, they irrevocably alter the physiological system. Since nano-augmentation is the advanced equivalent of physio-pharmaceutical augmentations and its mechanical counterpart, I want to discover the various interdependencies between these systems.”

When she finished her spiel, Reed clasped her hands together and studied her pensively, those sharp green eyes staring at her with cool aloofness. Madison detected the faintest nuances of arrogance in an otherwise impassive expression.

“It’s a Descent Velocity Modulator and Cloaking System,” Madison explained.

Reed’s gaze latched onto her, Madison almost felt the little slivers digging under her skin, trying to pull out the secrets of her physiology though that cold, calculating gaze.

“My nanites may grant me enhanced senses and increased strength, but I can’t render myself invisible. So my,” Madison swallowed with difficulty but continued, “My superior implanted along my spine a deep-tissue control implant linked to my brain. It generates an electromagnetic field which adjusts the frequency of EM radiation around me. Only unlike other Augs, the neural link to my brain doesn’t drain bio-energy. So I can cloak and remain invisible for extended periods without the same limitations as my augmented counterparts.”

The side of Madison’s mouth twitched in amusement as she watched Reed’s expression falter, jarring the carefully indifferent attitude she adopted, and her arrogance suddenly seemed like a mask held in place.

Most who chose to become augmented knew how to operate their augmentations but knew nothing of the science behind the tech. Madison, however, spent hours researching and understanding augmentations. It was her job to hunt rogue Augs. She needed to know everything about their abilities to make tracking and capturing them easier, hopefully with minimal casualties.

“I’ve also had another implant surgically embedded along my vertebral column. It’s essentially a High-Fall Safeguard System. The freefall unit automatically activates an electromagnetic lensing field to stop me from falling to my death.”

Shoulder lifting in a careful shrug, Madison repressed a shudder as she remembered the time she’d been forced to test the new tech she’d been fitted with. Being thrown off a building wasn’t an experience she cared to repeat. Not that the fall would kill her.

Reed appraised her with ill-concealed interest, causing a ripple of tension to slither through Madison and pass almost immediately onto Adam. She felt the rigidity in Adam’s posture, obviously not liking the cunning he also saw pass over Megan’s face. Silence crawled around the laboratory, compressing uncomfortably against the occupants of the room.

Adam turned to her, irritation sharpening his features. “If you don’t want to do this..” 

Madison made a displeased sound and shook her head. She wasn’t going to be coddled. It was a scan for fuck’s sake. She’d endured a lot worse. Besides, this was her only chance to survive. If she didn’t allow Reed to take samples, Sarif wouldn’t give her a new identity. And without that new identity she’d be recaptured and placed in a _very_ different laboratory, without the freedom of choice she was given now. Besides, she’d given her word, and that wasn’t something Madison went back on.

Without answering Adam, she walked over to the machine and stepped inside, ignoring the simmering tension in the room, building like a bubbling like a cauldron. Whatever was between Adam and Megan wasn’t her business. Since she didn’t much care for the scientist, the faster she got this over with, the sooner she could move on with her life.

“Please put your arms up and out to the side,” Reed asked, voice floating to Madison inside the machine, sounding slightly distorted.

“Remain still,” Reed ordered.

Madison did as she was asked, hearing the quiet humming of the machine as it scanned her body.

“Okay, you can get out now. I’ll be taking a blood sample. Sit over on the chair and pull your sleeve up,” Reed gesticulated vaguely with her back hunched over a computer console.

“Would you like me to explain what’s involved with _that_ process?” Reed asked so neutrally, Madison could have been fooled into believing there was no insulted wrapped up in her question.

Madison swivelled her head towards Reed, baring her teeth in a harsh parody of amusement. 

“No. I’ve been pricked before.”

_/_I_/_

Leaning against the wall, Adam watched Megan prepare a syringe, dab antiseptic onto Madison’s arm and insert the needle. Madison’s jaw clenched as she glanced down at her arm, watching the vial fill with her own blood before her eyes wandered away. Her gaze touched on various items in the office before coming to rest on him.

Madison stared at him steadily, the luminescent light above highlighting her unusual eyes. Her carefully blank expression was rendered inconsequential by the irritation flickering in those golden depths. It reminded him of a lioness’s tail twitching. A warning for others to approach at their own peril. Megan might mistake Madison’s stillness for passivity, but Adam wasn’t fooled. There was a predatory stillness about Madison, in the way her eyes tracked her environment, always assessing everything, and moreover everyone, as a threat.

He wasn’t just lingering in Megan’s office because he was worried Megan’s gauche hidden barbs might offend Madison’s sensibilities. Adam didn’t believe Madison’s ego bruised so easily. No, he was there to ensure Megan didn’t overstep. He didn’t trust her. And not just for the obvious reasons. Adam didn’t know why she’d returned to Sarif Industries, but her explanation for leaving VersaLife sounded too rehearsed to be even remotely believable. ‘It didn’t work out’. Sure, he believed that as much as he believed his limbs would grow back.

Dropping his gaze, Adam watched as Megan replaced another vial, placing the full ampoule in the beaker stand, along with several others she’d withdrawn.

Adam had listened with interest as Madison explained how the implant along her spine worked. It sounded like she’d been outfitted with the Military equivalent of his Icarus Landing System and Glass Shield cloaking. Those additions made Madison a very dangerous operative. He’d seen Madison in combat, and even after getting shot and prologued incarceration in the stasis hatch, her strength and speed had been impressive. Adam suspected that at her peak, Madison was a formidable opponent.

“Do you need Neuropozyne?” Megan asked suddenly.

Eyes unfocused, with her thoughts obviously elsewhere, Madison blinked and shook herself slightly. When she turned towards Megan, Adam could almost see the thoughts fall away, pooling around her feet like a lost thread.

“No.” The word was whispered, but the single syllable had a sharp edge to it, digging into the silence which clung to the room.

Madison’s hardened expression flickered with an unnamed emotion when she looked over at Megan. Adam couldn’t see Megan’s face but he could almost feel her curiosity, pressing down on the room like a physical weight.

“Do you have a Sentinel RX Health System?” Megan asked with a studied casualness.

Cocking her head, a thin smile pulled Madison’s lips in a taut line. Adam got the distinct impression Madison was rapidly running out patience with Megan’s questions. Adam might have interrupted and told Megan she could find out for herself, but found he was also curious about her answers.

“No. The Sentinel Health System is an implant which uses electro-cardio action to fight injury. The nano-tech works in a different, more holistic capacity. The muscles near all my major organs, along with my central nervous system, lymphatic system and adrenal glands use the nanites to accelerate the healing process. I’m still more prone to injury than any other Aug. Apart from the implant along my spine, everything else is flesh.”

A smile ghosted her lips, but there was no trace of amusement in Madison’s eyes. Never one to find science endlessly fascinating like Megan, Adam nonetheless found Madison’s physiology remarkable. It explained why she’d recovered from a gunshot wound in less than a week, with no lingering effects. He even wondered if nanites would have bonded with his own unique DNA. Not that it mattered now.

“That’s all the samples I need,” Megan announced as she placed tape over the vein on Madison’s arm.

Megan walked over and sat down at her desk. Mild amusement flashed in Madison’s gaze as she stared at Megan’s back with the slightest curl to her mouth, not quite a smile but enough to denote an inner amusement at Megan’s poor bedside manner.

“I’m done?” Madison asked.

Megan didn’t answer, barely suppressed anticipation flaming to life. In front of that computer, the whole world was falling away for Megan, cracking at the edges until her whole existence was compressed into that terminal. He was accustomed to this feverish mindset of Megan’s, had found it endearing. At first…..

 

_Opening the door, the cloying darkness soaked into Adam’s body, mocking him with its emptiness. Clenching his jaw in agitation, he stepped inside the apartment and flipped the light on. Narrowing his eyes against the sudden glare, the illumination was able to chase away the darkness, but it left a desolate silence and one glaring omission; Megan’s presence._

_Adam turned towards the kitchen, the stainless steel appliances shimmered in monochromatic dullness, as lifeless as the apartment felt. The silence pressed in around him, an icy coolness caressing his skin where there should have been warmth, love, light._

_The clock on the wall chimed steadily, the only sound in the entire apartment. Each turn of the hand ticked away his emotions; anger, bitterness, disappointment, and finally resignation._

_Shaking his head, Adam turned towards the kitchen, movements slow, the tiredness in his limbs pulling against him as much as the knowledge of his failed relationship. Reaching for the crystal Scotch glasses, his fingers glossed over the pattern. The set had been a gift from his Father when he’d graduated from the Police Force. The glasses were more than just a graduation gift. They represented the pride Adam still remembered plastered on his Father’s face when he presented them. That’s all Adam had left of his parents. Memories and a few small mementos._

_An aching loneliness threatened to squeeze his throat closed. With his parents dead, Megan was really the only family he had. But he couldn’t continue to have a relationship with a ghost because he yearned for a connection. For a_ family _._

_Adam reached up and grabbed the bottle of Scotch from the cupboard. He felt something touch his hip, looked down just in time to watch the crystal glass, balanced precariously on the edge, topple over the countertop. Adam watched in fatalistic helplessness as the glass teetered mockingly, a suspended moment where he felt he could reach for the glass but his body had hardened into stone._

_Then the glass fell, shattering into tiny slivers, spreading like sharp blades of ice across the floor. Hearing the rendering crack on the tiled floor, Adam felt something tear inside him. It wasn’t just the disappointment and anger associated with dropping one of the few items he had left from his Father. It was almost like watching his relationship break into a million pieces, too small to glue back together. And even if he tried he’d just find himself with too many broken pieces, the shards embedded within his skin too painful to keep without needing to dig them out._

_Turning away from the broken glass, Adam left it on the floor, too exhausted to even want to clean it up. Grabbing the bottle of Scotch, he splashed a generous amount into another glass, watched the amber liquid slosh around, emulating the roiling tension he felt in his stomach at the thought of what he had to do._

_Opening another drawer, he grabbed the lighter he’d hidden along with the cigarette pack, and walked towards the living room. He didn’t bother to flick on the lights, his mordant mood preferring darkness._

_Adam sat on the single chair sofa and fingered the cigarette, savored the feeling of it rolling around his palm. The cigarette burned briefly to life, the orange tip searing its brand into the darkness. Pulling the smoke into his lungs, Adam relished the slight burn as it ticked his throat. He didn’t know how long he sat there, waiting for Megan’s return as he sipped the Scotch, the liquid courage fuelling his determination._

_Finally, with a throat clouded with smoke, and a stomach burning pleasantly from the alcohol, Adam heard the front door open. His heart sped up, but Adam just sat there, pulled the smoke into his lungs and waited._

_Adam followed Megan’s movements, her shadowy outline walking noiselessly past the darkened living room. She didn’t glance at him, likely had no idea he was even there. Before Megan could walk past, Adam leaned over and flicked on the lamp beside him._

_Megan squeaked in surprise, her green eyes darting around in fear before they settled on his seated figure. Her fingers were curled around her delicate throat, her chest heaving as she controlled her instinctive reaction._

_He didn’t move, just took another drag on his cigarette. Megan’s lips twitched, eyes darting towards the cigarette, lingering on it as a frown slowly formed. Adam had given up when they’d moved in together. Well, he still lit up occasionally, just at work, away from Megan’s disapproving stare._

_Narrowing her eyes, Megan watched the wisps of smoke lingering near his hand as he held the smouldering cigarette in a loose grip._

_“You’re smoking,” Megan stated in disapproval, unable to keep her mouth from twisting disdainfully._

_Adam took a deep breath, exhaling almost wistfully, because perhaps he could have outlasted the moment if he’d just put the cigarette out. Got up and pretended nothing was wrong. But he’d already started, didn’t know if he had the resolve to stop._

_Adam inclined his head but didn’t answer the obvious observation. “Di d you forget something?” Adam asked without inflection, but inside felt the fissures as they swept through his body, unravelling all the mistakes, all the words unspoken, pushing out all the anger, frustration and regret._

_Megan blinked at him, the disapproval falling away until her expression morphed into something comically blank. Reaching up, Megan pinched the bridge of her nose, irritation trickling into her expression._

_“I’m tired Adam. I’m in no mood for this.”_

_He smiled, but it was more a rueful acknowledgement of the truth of Megan’s statement, rather than any expression of humor._

_“Neither am I,” Adam acknowledged. In the rough cadences of his voice, he heard the emotion start to seep in, his composure unravelling like a loose spool._

_Fixing him with a hard stare, exasperation tinged an expression already sharpened with impatience. When Adam stubbed out the cigarette, he could almost feel the scattering ash settle on his tongue. He could taste the grainy texture, as unpleasant as the reality of the words he was about to speak. Getting up, he walked slowly towards Megan until there was only a body length between them._

_“Where in that brilliant mind of yours did you think it was acceptable to forget an anniversary dinner? That I wouldn’t mind sitting and waiting for you to turn up to the restaurant.”_

_Guilt flashed over Megan’s expression, softened the irritation as she stepped towards him. She reached a hand out towards his face, but faltered when she looked in his eyes. Adam wasn’t sure what she saw there, but she flinched and dropped her hand as if she’d been burnt._

_Adam continued, a mirthless chuckle simmering behind the words. “It’s the epitome of what our relationship has become. It’s something you’ve forgotten, it’s no longer relevant to you. I’m an afterthought. You often don’t come home and when you do, you’re distant. Work has consumed you.”_

_Opening her mouth, Megan shook her head, shock washing over her expression before Adam saw the first real emotion from her in months; fear._

_“Adam. No. That’s not true. I mean,” Megan waved a hand dismissively, “Yes I’ve been preoccupied. But that doesn’t mean I love you any less. I’m sorry about tonight…I must have lost track of time.”_

_A sharp snort of amusement escaped before Adam could smother it. The justifications abraded against her already flimsy excuses, effectively making his point for him. Lost track of time. It was a tired excuse she’d used once too often._

_“You’re shutting me out. We barely speak, we haven’t had sex in months, you’re never home. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t deserve to be an afterthought.”_

_“You’re not,” Megan snapped, but Adam heard the strain in her voice, the frustration making her voice sharp enough to slice through him._

_Adam crossed his arms, trying to calm the anger pushing at the back of his throat, threatening to expose all the scathing disparagements he’d love to sling her way. Swallowing with difficultly, past the angry words, Adam exhaled sharply, decided to try another way to reach Megan._

_“Then tell me what you’re working on. Whatever it is that keeps you from coming home, keeps you distracted even when you are here.”_

_Megan blinked, and Adam saw the brief flare of defiance in her green eyes. Her gaze slid away and she took a step back, balled her fists. When she looked back up, that mask of composure had shattered and she was angry._

_“I can’t,” Megan ground out, resentment sparking behind her eyes._

_And just like that, Adam realized Megan had made her choice. She’d chosen her work over him. The silence lay on his skin like a poison, seeping into his bloodstream and tainting his memories of her. She wasn’t even trying to cushion the blow, to fill the void with some type of non-committal declaration. The void was a cruelty she inflicted unintentionally, but it didn’t make it any less hurtful._

_“Then I can’t do this anymore,” he declared._

_Perhaps if Megan had reacted differently, had acknowledged that there was an issue, Adam might have been persuaded to stay. Instead, she’d jealously guarded her secret, refused to disclose whatever it was she was working on. And that stung, knowing her work meant more to her than he did. A brittle disappointment settled over him with the same lashing sting as a Detroit winter._

_Megan took a step towards him and grabbed his hand. Despite their proximity, Adam felt the space between them, the excuses and apologies layered against each other until there was nothing left between but a gaping hole._

_Gently, Adam pulled his hand from her grasp, but Megan held on and Adam felt her desperation in the tips of her fingers. He lingered in her grip, before tugging his hand back gently. A tear slid silently from the corner of her eye, and Adam tracked its progress down her cheek. The small tear delayed its fall, hanging on the edge of her jaw before it dropped. For a brief moment, Adam wanted to wipe away that tear, enfold her in his arms and forget he’d even started this…ending._

_There wasn’t anger, he didn’t want to lash out and hurt her the way she’d unintentionally hurt him. But in the end even those excuses were weak. Of course he’d hurt Megan. Adam couldn’t take back his words. Megan deserved his honesty, he owed her that much._

_“It’s breaking me,” he admitted, voice barely above a whisper but it echoed as loud as a clap of thunder._

_“Please Adam. Don’t do this. I’m sorry. I’ll be home earlier. I’ll make us more of a priority. Just…don’t do this. Please,” she pleaded._

_Even in that moment, with Megan pleading for another chance, Adam felt the distance crawl between them. The irresoluteness of Megan’s hollow promises faded into the distance. He could see it in her eyes, even she doubted her words._

_Adam stared silently at the woman he had thought to marry. Even imagined he saw the faces of his children imprinting against her face like a faint echo. He could still feel the warmth of her hand, burning like a brand on his skin. But now, now that he’d said what had been on his mind for weeks, he was strangely reluctant to move._

_“I’m done Meg. I’m sorry.”_

_His words beat at the silence, heavy with implication. Tears streamed like a broken faucet down her face. When Adam turned to walk away Megan reached out her hand again. He turned, looked down at her, at her hand lingering in the air. Her fingers curled towards him, their pale digits standing out in the darkness, like bones in a graveyard._

_He’d expected anger, a fight, or accusations. He got none of that. Megan didn’t seem to want to fight for them, so why should he? Tears aside, Megan’s acceptance of the breakup was more indicative than anything else. Like she’d lost the will to fight before she even started._

_“Adam…” Megan croaked out, emotion lodged in her expression, the finality finally filtering through as he watched Megan’s face, remembering the feeling of her skin tingling under his fingers, the way she looked as she woke up, her face creased from sleep._

_“I’m done,” Adam whispered as he walked away, and didn’t look back, even when he heard the heart -wrenching sob work its way up Megan’s throat ….._

“I’m done?” Madison asked again.

Those words jarred Adam from his reverie, echoing like a montage inside his brain. His thoughts slowly formed, dripping back into his mind until he had a puddle of unwanted emotions and memories.

Megan glanced up distractedly, nodded at Madison then looked back down at her monitor. Adam frowned, annoyed that he’d relived that particular memory. Even now, he felt his chest tighten, sadness and irritation competing for the dominant emotion.

Weeks of silent glares and uncomfortably awkward silences had ensued after their break up. Megan’s bitterness had been particularly hard to withstand. She refused to see that his reasons for ending their relationship were valid. To her, he’d betrayed and hurt her. Now he found her indignance laughable, considering what she’d been working on.

But time did heal their resentment, allowed them to at least talk civilly without any rancour on either part. All that changed when Adam learnt the truth. Now he saw Megan for who she was; a brilliant, but selfish individual who was fixated on her work, to the detriment of all else.

Madison stood up, staring at him expectantly. Adam shook his head slightly, let those thoughts fall away. Without another word, they walked out of Megan’s lab.

“Is my new I.D ready?” Madison asked.

Adam glanced at Madison, traced the wariness in her expression. She locked eyes with him, and Adam noticed the golden circle around her pupils flare. She was scanning him, assessing his physical reactions to determine if he told the truth.

A smile ghosted his lips when he realized how annoying this augmentation actually was. Not that he could complain, he used his Social Enhancer all the time.

“Yeah. Come to my office and you can get what we’ve organized.”

Madison nodded and followed him, adopting an easy lope, reminding Adam of a jungle cat. All lean muscle and predatory grace, hiding her deadly attributes beneath that aloof detachment. He watched her take in the contents of his office, sharp gaze roaming over every surface. She leant against the door in a deceptively relaxed pose. She obviously didn’t trust he’d keep their deal, ready to take flight at moment’s notice.

Adam retrieved a small pouch from his drawer. Flipping it open, he retrieved a credit chip, passport, and I.D.

“This is your new I.D. My colleague, Francis Pritchard, organized this for you. He’s Sarif Industries’ chief security analyst, but he’s also a hacker. I won’t ever admit this again, but he’s really the best. He kept your first name but changed everything else, date of birth, surname, address. It’ll hold up under scrutiny. He’s assured me that with the records he’s changed, no one will know you were previously Madison Turner.”

Adam tapped the I.D and looked across at Madison. She didn’t comment, just arched an inquisitive brow. Madison had an aptitude for stretching out silences, creating a tension with that immutable expression of hers. It didn’t bother Adam, he used the same tactic. Instead, he just let his mouth curve up into a knowing smile, and continued unperturbed. 

“The passport was a bit trickier because it required Pritchard to change the biometrics. Since Panchaea, cameras have been erected around most major cities. Some scan biometrics, essentially identifying you wherever you go while also capturing your location. Pritchard has a few unsavoury connections within the criminal world and was able to get you a forgery. When you are scanned, it will reveal you to be Madison Jones.”

Holding out the credit chip, Madison’s gaze drifted towards it before snapping back to him.

“Sarif has also loaded a considerable amount of credit onto this chip. It should provide you with enough to start a new life.”

Adam placed them back in the small pouch and looked up at Madison. She hadn’t moved, not even a twitch of muscle, and he might be forgiven for mistaking her for a rather life-like statue. Hesitating, Adam absently tapped the pouch as he considered how to approach the next subject.

“I visited the container yard,” he began, glancing down to place the pouch on the desk.

When he looked back up Madison stood in front of his desk, startling him. Jesus she was fast, he didn’t even hear or sense her move. Her green eyes flashed in agitation as she gripped the desk, her lip curled in an unmistakable snarl. 

Adam stilled, flicked back his glasses and locked eyes with Madison, waited for her to move or speak. The room felt saturated with Madison’s anger, darkening each minute.

“You need to step back,” Adam demanded, a slight growl sliding behind the words. He hadn’t raised his voice, but his meaning was clear.

Madison blinked, took a quick breath in. Her gaze skittered away as she uncurled her fingers from the desk. Taking a slow, deliberate step back, when she looked back up to him, a measured calm was trickling into her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized stiffly, jaw clenching in agitation. “I’m …” she shrugged, looking over at him, looking uncharacteristically vulnerable. Lips twitching, anger washed over Madison’s expression as she scrubbed a hand over her face. “The past few weeks have been a difficult adjustment. I’m not sure I’ve reacted to your generosity with any sort of equanimity. I’m not making excuses, but it’s not a normal situation and I really expected you to renege on our deal.”

Adam stared at the pouch containing the essence of Madison’s new life, contemplating his response.

“It’s okay. Really,” he insisted when Madison’s expression turned skeptical. “This _isn’t_ a normal situation. And I know more than you think about reacting in usual circumstances. I gave you my word we’d help you and this is me keeping it.”

Scratching his beard Adam looked at Madison warily. “Do you want to know what I discovered about your container?”

Madison nodded.

“The logs didn’t register the original port, nor did they provide an indication of its next loading dock. The container just appeared in the rotation. But,” Adam paused, activating his Social Enhancer, “The container’s documentation had Belltower’s logo on it.”

Madison’s head jerked back, heart rate spiking as surprise briefly flitted over her expression before she could school her features. Despite her best attempt at hiding her shock, Adam was convinced that her reaction was genuine. People may be accomplished liars on the surface, but their physiological reactions told a different story.

“Do you know why a Belltower logo would be on the documentation?” Adam asked anyway, despite suspecting her answer.

“No,” she replied, shaking her head in the negative.

The emotion fell away from Madison’s face as she took a steadying breath and lifted her chin, cool gaze digging into him.

“No,” Madison reiterated. “But I intend to find out,” she muttered, almost to herself.

Placing his fingers on the pouch, he slid it towards Madison. “We have all the samples we need. As promised, your new identity. You’re free to go.”

Stepping forward, Madison reached out tentatively, gaze shooting to his before she snatched the pouch from the desk and took a quick step back. Adam laughed, clipped short as Madison scowled at him. She reminded him of a wild animal, skittish and entirely unpredictable.

“Do you know where you’re going to go?” Adam asked, doubting she’d tell him but interested anyway.

Tracing the outline of the pouch, Madison gave him a measured stare. Eventually she shrugged.

“No,” she answered slowly, the hard glint in her eye betraying the lie.

Adam grunted. It wasn’t his business. He’d helped her out, she was on her own now. And he had his own problems.

“Can I drop you anywhere?” he asked, not believing she’d take him up on his offer.

When her gaze settled on his face, she smiled. “Actually, you can.”

_/_I_/_

Once Madison punched in a security number on the storage unit, Adam heard three small beeps and watched the console flash green. The door was the same grey color of unburnished silver, dull and spotted with years of water damage.

The sun was sinking lower in the sky, the light of day draining away, giving way to the velvety dark of night. Since it was a 24-hour storage facility, Madison had only to key in a code at the front entrance to enter the premises.

Adam looked around at the maze of storage units and wondered what Madison was doing here. If it was even safe. When he looked back at Madison, a smile was hovering on her lips as she watched him.

“Don’t worry, no one knows about this unit,” Madison assured him, her statement disconcertingly close to reading his thoughts.

Grabbing the handle, she opened the door, the screech of metal puncturing the night.

Turning back to him, she lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “I thought it pertinent in my line of work to have a few contingency plans. I’ve put this under a false name, paid for it in cash, up to 12 months in advance.”

Adam crossed his arms, surprised Madison was even explaining her purpose. She’d been reluctant to provide information about herself previously, but that was likely because she thought Sarif would hold her against her will. Wariness still clung to Madison’s expression like cobwebs, but the tension she carried in her body appeared to have eased since they left Sarif Industries.

Madison walked into the darkened unit, manoeuvring the charcoal shadows with ease. Despite the scant light, Madison used no flashlight, obviously able to see as clearly in the darkness as he could. Madison walked towards a large metal box and bent down, keying in another code on the box’s numerical keypad. The lid opened silently. She gathered the few contents and came outside. Placing two backpacks on the floor, Madison slipped into a combat vest.

Adam frowned and looked closer. “That’s a Gel Vest,” he pointed out, impressed.

Snapping her gaze up to him, the side of Madison’s mouth curled in amusement. “Correct. I ‘borrowed’ it from the Army’s stock,” she admitted, amusement vibrating in her voice.

Adam snorted and watched her outfit herself for battle. Combat knife went into a sheath at her back, and a small one strapped to her leg under her pants.

He’d only heard of Gel Vests, had never seen one. A normal tactical, bulletproof vest was made of Kevlar and quite bulky. A Gel Vest was a thin bullet-resistant vest concealed under clothing. It comprised of layers of Kevlar and gel thickening liquid. Both material stopped bullets, the thickening liquid hardened on impact to reduce bullet related injuries. It also absorbed knife attacks, rifle calibre gunshots and even armor piercing rounds without cracking ribs or crushing lungs.

Hoisting one backpack, Madison slung it over her shoulder, grabbed the other and adopted a negligent pose. She didn’t say anything for a long time, but Adam felt the weight of her gaze as she stared at him, thoughts flashing across her face too fast for him to decipher. Now that the time had come to part, Madison appeared reluctant to leave. Perhaps it had occurred to her that she was truly on her own.

A shadow of a smile touched her lips. “I never thought you’d let me go,” she admitted, the wry sound of her voice forcing a levity from her that was entirely spontaneous.

Opening his mouth, Adam was interrupted by Pritchard before he got a chance to respond.

“ _Jensen, how many times do I have to tell you I am_ not _your personal message bank_?”

Letting out a breathy growl, Adam held up a hand to Madison.

“Sorry, give me a minute,” he explained. “What now Pritchard, I’m busy,” he ground out.

“ _Someone wants me to patch them into your frequency. Says it’s rather urgent_.”

Adam tapped his foot, waiting for Pritchard to expand. When all he heard was the sound of sirens in the distance, Adam let out a long-suffering sigh.

“This is your prompt Francis. A name would be good right now.”

“ _Tiffany Kavanagh_.”

It took a long few seconds for the name to register, but when it did, he stilled. He hadn’t seen Dr. Kavanagh since he’d helped her escape Rifleman Bank station. He had wondered what had happened to her, but since he had no way of contacting her or knowing where she went, had assumed she went into hiding.

“Patch her though,” Adam requested as he glanced at Madison. She hadn’t moved, but was watching him in curiosity.

“ _Mr. Jensen_?” a tentative voiced asked into his Cochlear implant.

Adam recognized the distinctive twang of Kavanagh’s New Zealand accent.

“Dr. Kavanagh,” Adam confirmed. “What can I do for you?”

 _“I…I wasn’t sure who to contact. I’ve been on the run since you helped me escape Burke. Belltower have been hunting me. They know I have the evidence which could shut down their organization. But I haven’t been able to give the evidence to anyone. It’s like they’re always one step ahead. I’m in Detroit at the moment. I’ve been trying to track down my partner, but I haven’t been able to contact him. I’m scared_ ,” Kavanagh admitted, a slight tremor in her voice vibrating through his implant.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Adam tried to ignore the headache building up behind his eyes.

“Okay,” Adam began, trying to work out the best approach to another complication he didn’t need. “Where are you now Dr. Kavanagh?”

“ _Um ... Are you sure it’s safe to tell you_ _over this line_?”

Adam almost laughed, but swallowed the sound. Normally he’d say yes, but a few people had been able to access the frequency in the past. Pritchard had said that he’d created a different one. But Kavanagh didn’t need to know that

“This frequency is secure,” Adam assured her.

Kavanagh paused, her indecision traveling across the frequency. “ _It’s an abandoned warehouse in Highland Park_.”

Adam’s eyebrows rose in consternation. Highland Park was ghetto territory. What the hell was she doing there?

“Stay put. I’ll come and get you.”

“ _Oh thank you_ ,” Tiffany replied, relief puncturing her words. “ _I’m sorry to do this to you. You’ve done enough already. I don’t want to put you out any more. I just … don’t know who else I could have called. Just one more thing, I’ve been trying to contact my partner since I left Rifleman Bank station, but I haven’t been able to get in contact with him. I know I’m asking a lot, but with your resources you might have better luck trying to find him_. _I’m very worried about him_.”

Movement to his left caught Adam’s eye. He turned towards Madison, watched her shift restlessly, as she shot glances towards the exit.

“I’ll try. What’s his name?” Adam asked tiredly.

“ _Dr. Gary Savage_.”

Frowning, the name stirred sluggishly inside his memory. His mind rolled over like an old rolodex, trying to recall where he’d heard that name.

“Dr. Savage? Was he with you on Rifleman Bank station,” Adam asked.

If he hadn’t been facing her, he might have missed her reaction. Madison froze, her body emitting a thrumming tension Adam picked up instantly. Shock slowly washed over her face, transforming her previously impassive expression into something brittle enough to snap.

Dr. Kavanagh was talking in his implant but Adam barely heard her, too intent on watching Madison react to whatever she heard. Much like lightening on a pitch-black night, emotions flashed in rapid succession across her face. He could detect fear and anger in the tightening of her expression.

When she glanced up and noticed he was watching her, her expression immediately transformed into a careful slate of indifference. It was a decent effort, enough to fool the casual observer, but for the onlooker with a keen eye, she was a walking advert for tension. Her eyes moved over him with the alertness that came from a deep disquiet, as her hands remained clenched by subconscious demand.

“I’ll meet you soon. Don’t move from your location,” Adam stated distractedly as he clicked off from the link.

Adam silently regarded Madison, took in the loose way she held her bag and the slight bend to her knee. He wasn’t sure if she was about to attack or bolt.

“What do you know about Dr. Savage?” Madison asked, the quiet menace in her voice matching the burning fire in the back of her gaze.

Adam didn’t say anything, slightly confused by the sudden change in her attitude. Why the hostility? Adam arched a poignant brow at Madison, allowed the silence to wrap around them until it felt like it would squeeze the tension from their pores.

“Not much. It’s a long story but we kind of crossed paths, months ago, at a Belltower facility. I never really met him, just his partner Dr. Kavanagh. Why do you ask? You obviously know him,” Adam indicted, careful to keep any hint of accusation from his tone.

An almost undetectable twitch of her lips told Adam he was right in his suspicions. Jaw tightening, Adam could see in her eyes that she was weighing what to tell him. Madison took a quick breath in, the small movement relaxing the tension ever so slightly.

Madison’s gaze was like a searing brand, the fury simmering behind her eyes making her next words come out with an undeniable menace.

“Savage was the Doctor who gave me the nanite infusions. And the one who experimented on me without my permission.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:
> 
> Tiffany Kavanagh, Gary Savage and Pieter Burke are characters from the DLC: The Missing Link.


	12. Chapter 10

The setting sun was slowly dipping towards the horizon, the copper hues giving way to a dusty purple scattered with the occasional glitter of a faraway star. Detroit’s distant skyline was nestled amongst the sunset’s backdrop, the buildings silhouetted and standing silently sentinel.

As Madison dropped her gaze, the serenity of dusk scattered as she took in her surroundings. On the outskirts of Highland Park, evidence of the gang-infested suburb was slowly bleeding into the surrounding district.

Shopfronts were battered, the metal grates installed rarely deterring persistent intruders. Graffiti sprayed across buildings; tags from the gangs who called this suburb home. The cement sidewalk was cracked, the road in various states of disrepair, and anything of value had long since been stripped from the street.

The council had given up trying to fix Highland Park. The funds funneled into helping those still within the confines of the area soon ceased. The State witnessed the futility of the endeavor; drugs were still being peddled, gangs still ruled the streets. Poverty was a daily struggle not only to feed your family, but to dodge bullets while going to the local store. Highland Park was left to fester like an open wound, slowly poisoning the neighborhood until all that was left was a black hole of crime, violence and gangs.

Madison scanned the street, force of habit, but also to be aware of her surroundings. She wasn’t surprised to discover that not one person was walking the street. Dusk was a silent alarm for Highland Park residents. Some set their bodies to the time, an instinctive reaction to seeing daylight flittering away. They closed their shops to scuttle home to lock their doors and hope their livelihood would be there in the morning. Others felt the encroaching twilight, relished the damage they could do under the cover of darkness.

Sundown was slowly bleeding warmth from the surroundings, the chill of evening settling like a blanket over the district. Streetlights flickered on sluggishly, even the bulbs reluctant to cast light on an area in which its inhabitants thrived on the anonymity darkness brought. As Madison passed under a streetlight, she noticed shrapnel had chipped the paint and there were even a few bullet holes.

Adam was a silent, indomitable presence next to her, his long, confident stride full of grace and unrestrained power. The sleek blackness of his Cybernetic Arm Prosthesis shone like burnished obsidian under the winking streetlight.

Of course, Adam wasn’t just relying on his augmentations, he was armed. They both were. Madison adjusted her Gel Vest, sitting snugly under her sweater. The two knives she’d strapped on while at the storage unit weren’t enough protection to enter Highland Park.

Before they left the car, she’d strapped a gun holster to her thigh and a tactical belt around her waist. Madison had also grabbed her sidearm, a Glock 13, not available on the open market and used almost exclusively by Army Black Ops units. It had certain features other Glock’s didn’t. Bio-metric authentication prevented any unauthorized user from firing the weapon. It also came with an enlarged magazine and increased stopping power when used in fully automatic mode.

As they rounded a corner, Madison immediately spotted a group of teens lounging on a bench. Her retinal enhancement scanned the group, feeding back spools of data. After scanning the data, she noted only one of them was augmented. The gangly looking one at the end with the wild look in his eyes and grey pallor to his skin.

Rejection syndrome. It wasn’t difficult to miss, even without her enhanced eyesight which picked up the sweat building across his forehead in tiny little drops, like dew on a cold morning. Or the red rimmed eyes which had sunk deep into his face, his skin stretched across his cheekbones like cling wrap, giving it the same tepid appearance as a corpse.

This poor kid would likely die from lack of Neuropozyne. Madison had learnt that since Panchaea, Neuropozyne had been regulated to a point where hundreds were dying because Augs had been denied access to the life-saving drug. If it was a deliberate ploy by the government to reduce the number of augmented citizens, it was definitely working.

Adam didn’t falter in his stride as he watched the teenagers, but tension wrapped around him, the tautness in his body pushing against the sallow light from the nearest streetlight. With his black augmentations and combat gear, it looked like someone had cut carefully around Adam and peeled his outline away, leaving only blackness behind. It was an eerie trick of the light, but it nonetheless gave Adam’s already intimidating figure a decidedly ominous quality.

The teenagers shifted as they approached, insolent scrutiny obvious in their collective gazes. Their eyes lingered on Madison, took in her attire, eyeing her weapons. She traced speculation in their expression, until their gazes took in Adam’s presence. A ripple of unease flowed through the group as Adam turned his head and stared with unmitigated menace in their direction. Almost as one they flinched, gazes skittering away to settle back into their previous state of repose, as if they hadn’t been contemplating approach.

These kids were scavengers, low on the food-chain, looking to intimidate and oppress those weaker than themselves, but lacking the gumption or the skill to confront those obviously stronger. If she’d been alone, Madison had no doubt they would have approached her. And lived to regret it.

Not that Madison took offense to this knowledge. As a female, and especially as woman in her male-dominated profession, she’d been underestimated all her life. Since the nanite infusion, Madison knew she was stronger, faster, durable and more skilled than most males. She didn’t care whether they saw her as ‘the weaker sex’. They soon learnt their lesson.

When Adam looked over at her, Madison felt his scrutiny as his gaze passed over her face.  He didn’t say anything, just turned his head back towards the street. Madison glanced over to similarly study Adam’s profile. The sudden flare of light which passed over his face did nothing to moderate the harsh edges. The shadows, which fell like a curtain over his expression, made him seem more austere than usual.

Maybe Adam was reconsidering his decision to allow her to accompany him into Highland Park.

 _Too bad_ , she ruminated silently.

Gary Savage. That was a name she’d never expected to hear rolling off Adam’s tongue. The shock of hearing that name had felt similar to the effects of a Taser. Her body had gone rigid as tiny bolts of adrenaline sped through her muscles, overriding every other impulse and function to dump her into survival mode. Without warning, she’d been transported back to that laboratory, feeling the sting of the needle, the pervading darkness closing in around her vision, then the disorientation as she woke from another procedure she hadn’t consented to.

The first face she saw when she woke up was always the handsome, brown haired Doctor with the brusque bedside manner and arrogant demeanor. He’d always refuse to meet her eyes, obviously knowing he’d broken his Hippocratic Oath but unwilling to pass up such an _opportunity_.

A siren sounded in the distant, cutting through her thoughts to add it’s resonance to hundreds of other sounds Madison could hear.

While Adam had driven to Highland Park, Madison had spent the journey in quiet contemplation. Recovering from her injury, she had vacillated between the numerous choices available to her. She could take Sarif’s new identity and considerable amount of credit and disappear. Go to the West Coast, far away from the hub of the augmentation industry.

But that course of action felt unsatisfying and left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. It’d be easy just to disappear, create a new life. But that meant accepting that the man who orchestrated her Father’s murder would never be brought to justice. That the same man who augmented her, kept her detained, tested her limits until it felt like she would break, would be able to live his life without consequence.

Vengeance was a slow burning fire, smoldering beneath her skin, soaking into her marrow until it was all consuming. It brushed aside every rational thought, until she knew, with every beat of her heart, that she couldn’t live her life knowing that she hadn’t avenged her Father. So despite it being the safest and probably the most prudent course of action, Madison couldn’t disappear. She was going to expose Baldwin, even if it meant jeopardizing herself and risking possible imprisonment.

The problem was, Madison had no knowledge of Baldwin’s location. She couldn’t approach the Army or any of her colleagues. Wanted for desertion she’d be detained immediately. Without proof of Baldwin’s activities, her accusations would be met with incredulity and they’d likely think she’d need a Psych evaluation. That’s if Baldwin didn’t send a team to recapture her first.

She had no idea where to start. Until Adam uttered Savage’s name. It might prove to be a lead. The only one she had. Why Adam had allowed her to accompany him, Madison wasn’t sure. From the contact she’d had with him, Madison got the distinct impression Adam had an aversion to prolonged interaction with people.

She’d done some digging into Sarif Industries and Adam Jensen’s past. It was only fair, he’d researched her. She’d read all about his history with DPD, the siege at Mexicantown, and the subsequent attack on Sarif Industries. Madison rarely left anything to chance, she liked to know everything about her adversaries. Over time, she’d developed quite a skill for profiling targets, often based just on a Military file.

After Madison requested, and was provided with a laptop during her stay at Sarif Industries, Madison had hacked DPD records. She did look take a peek at Sarif Industries network security, but whoever had set it up was highly skilled. It wasn’t a network she’d attempt to bypass while inside Sarif Industries. Not with just the laptop, she need more sophisticated equipment. It was just easier to bypass DPD’s firewall to access Adam’s file.

Madison’s training for the Black Ops Augmentation Unit had been eclectic; it had involved I.T Security, Profiling, combat training, weapons and explosives specialization. While it had been intense, at times overwhelming, both physically and emotionally, it prepared her for almost every eventuality in the field.

So with those skills, and Adam’s Police file and news articles to fill in the blanks, Madison was able to construct a Profile of Adam Jensen. It was strange; she recognized so many similarities between her and Adam. They’d both chosen a dangerous profession, which meant that they were accustomed to, and comfortable with violence. Instinctively distrustful of others, likely stemming from a trauma.

Madison sensed that they both preferred their own company. It wasn’t anything concrete she could base this impression on, more observing Adam when he was with others and recognizing the deliberate distance he created. She understood that reluctance to allow others close enough to inflict any kind of hurt. Those wounds never healed, you just became proficient at hiding the damage.

Based on his Police file, Madison thought Adam was a hesitant but proficient leader, highly skilled in combat. Most of Adam’s subordinates had spoken highly of him. Before he’d become augmented. After that …

But despite all of those parallels they were still both largely unknown factors, untested in each other’s eyes.

After reluctantly informing Adam of how she knew Savage, he had surprised her when he hadn’t denied her request to accompany him into Highland Park.

She’d have liked to question this Dr. Kavanagh without Adam, but that wasn’t possible. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Adam, she just didn’t _not_ trust him. The concept was too complicated to decipher in her mind, so she didn’t even try. She doubted it was some ploy on his part to keep her leashed to Sarif. He had no way of knowing Savage was the Doctor who experimented on her.

Madison was pulled from her musings abruptly when she heard the rumble of male voices.

She slowed her walk, coming to a complete stop. Walking beside her, Adam stopped fluidly and tilted his head questioningly.

“Bangers,” she whispered.

She hadn’t seen them yet, just heard them. They were around the corner and slightly down the next street. Stretching her senses, Madison filtered through the other sounds in the night until she could clearly hear the conversation.

“ _Snail said we gotta hit Mac’s gang tonight. Fucker refused to be part of Seven Mile Bloods. His boys are holding out. Word on the street is he has Neuropozyne_.”

A staccato burst of laughter peppered her ears as the other young men found amusement in their leader’s plans. Madison looked around the street for a place to hide as the footsteps of the young men came closer.

Spotting a darkened alley, Madison moved quickly towards the area. Adam was close behind as they slipped between the small path of the closest apartment buildings. The alleyway was shrouded in darkness, the remnants of hundreds of take-out containers littered the lane. Their roiling stench reached her sensitive nose and made Madison feel ill. From the apartments on either side of them came the common noises families made in their home. Windows open, the sounds drifted out into the night; television, fighting, babies crying.

Since none of the streetlights reached the lane-way, the shadows melted across their bodies, bleaching them in charcoal. Settling her shoulder against the building, Madison felt Adam step behind her. She didn’t look back at him, instead concentrated on the progression of the gang approaching. They hadn’t turned down the street yet.

Madison didn’t relish a fight with gangbangers. Especially this far into Highland Park. It’d draw unnecessary attention. Unlike the teens they’d encountered on the fringe of the suburb, these men were dangerous. Likely augmented, definitely armed, and prone to violence at the slightest provocation. She’d rather any kind of confrontation be avoided.

Despite the darkness of the alley, the nanites in Madison’s body compensated for the lack of light, picking up even the smallest amount of light on the lower end of the visual spectrum. She could use her retinal enhancement for further optical acuity but it wasn’t needed.

“Could you hear what they were saying?” Adam whispered.

Madison felt his breath on the back of her neck, the rough cadences of his voice vibrating down her spine. Frowning, she crooked her head slightly to look up at Adam. She hadn’t turned her head far enough to see his face, but allowed her gaze to sketch the solidity of his outline. Even without form or expression, Adam exuded a calm confidence which Madison found herself absorbing. She rolled her shoulders and turned back towards the street.

 “Yeah. Couldn’t you?” she asked, echoing the perplexity she heard in Adam’s voice.

Adam rumbled behind her. “Not completely,” he admitted.

She grunted non-committedly. Interesting. Her hearing was obviously more acute than Adam’s. It wasn’t unexpected. Auditory augmentations weren’t widely available and few chose the procedure.

“They were talking about a rival gang. One of them believes they have a Neuropozyne supply,” Madison supplied.

Adam grunted. Seemed like Adam was also familiar with ‘the grunt’, the universal language of the anti-social.

Madison shuffled her feet apart when she heard the gang approached. From their heartbeats alone, Madison counted ten men.

The tension crawled between her and Adam, creeping out until it filled the lane, feeling like a stagnant presence as the gang passed their position. They could cloak, but it’d drain unnecessary energy and she doubted they would see them.

The gang passed by their position, cocky confidence obvious in their loose-limbed swagger. Madison saw the glint of a gun in the waistband of one guy’s pants. A few of them were augmented, but none even looked their way.

“Hey,” one of them shouted.

In the process of relaxing her shoulders, Madison’s head shot up as trepidation stirred in the pit of her stomach.

The gang member was carrying an AK-47, which he brandished in the direction of the darkened alley. When Madison felt Adam move behind her, she turned her head. The scant illumination draped a black aura of menace so casually over his body, the possibility of death being dealt by the veritable weapons fused to his skin was more than just a possibility. Then he disengaged a blade from his wrist. It made the slightest noise, a neat snick, as the metal was unsheathed.

Madison stared with interest at the blade, surprised by the augmentation. It was a nano-ceramic blade, a high-grade Military augmentation, supposedly unavailable to the public. She narrowed her eyes, gaze drifting over Adam’s body in speculation. What other illegal, or at least restricted, augmentations was he hiding? Officially, Adam should not have been outfitted with that blade. As a civilian, but only in the technical sense of the word, Adam should not have access to weaponized augmentations.

“What the fuck Lenny? Come on?” one of the gang members shouted.

Whipping her head around, thoughts of illegal augmentations unravelled like a loose spool of cotton as she waited for the young Banger to make a decision.

The stillness of the night pooled around them, the moment was poised precariously, tipping slowly in uncertainty as the Banger continued to squint into the darkened alley. Neither Adam not Madison moved, not wanting to draw attention to their position. While the Banger had a Cybernetic Arm Prosthesis, his eyes hadn’t been augmented. There was no way he could see into the alley.

Lenny shook his head, pointing with his weapon. “Nah man. Fuck that. Go through here. It’ll be faster.”

Slowly, Madison unclipped her Glock and thumbed the safety off.

“You go through there. We’ll meet you there.”

Lenny hesitated, shooting speculatively glances between his friends and the lane between the buildings.

“Fuck this,” he muttered and sauntered away.

Madison let out a slow breath and re-holstered her Glock. Turning around, she watched Adam retract his blade.

“Handy,” she commented wryly, dropping her gaze to his wrist where the blade had withdrawn. She didn’t comment on the illegality of the blade. It wasn’t her business, but she did wonder if some of the rumors she’d heard about Sarif Industries and D.O.D contracts weren’t unfounded.

Curling his hand into a fist, the corner of Adam’s mouth quirked up into an amused smile.

“You have no idea,” he said, matching her tone.

Neither of their heartrates were elevated, despite the adrenaline rush, Madison could hear the slow thump of Adam’s heartbeat. They looked at each other speculatively, making a mental calculation of how the other reacted. It wasn’t the same as being in the heat of battle and knowing you could count on your teammate. But they’d got their measure of each other, their nerves had held despite the tense situation, neither had panicked.

Adam spoke first. “Let’s go. The warehouse isn’t far.”

Madison followed Adam as he maneuvered through the district, keeping to the shadows and avoiding confrontation with any of the gang bangers prowling the streets.

As they approached the abandoned warehouse, Madison’s eyebrows rose in consternation. The building surpassed the notion of being simply old some years previously and was now utterly derelict. Ivy grew unchecked over the crumbling brick facade, the stems as thick as a young tree. The windows were mostly broken, rotted and blistered, faring no better under the elements than most of the buildings around them.

Squinting, she could just make out the faded sign above the front door. Jed’s Processing Plant. In front of the building, burned out cars littered the area, some with half melted tires, others merely a shell of their former glory, jacked up on concrete slabs, wheels and doors missing, and nary a screw remaining.

Adam looked similarly unimpressed, going by the grimace on his face has he scanned the area.

“What the hell is she doing in there?” Adam remarked quietly.

Taking that as a rhetorical question, Madison remained silent.           

Madison’s vision distorted briefly as she activated her retinal enhancement. It was one of the few augmentations she’d consented to. In the field, despite her excellent eyesight, Madison had found that she didn’t have the same capacity as those of her augmented teammates to map her environment.

Reluctant to replace her eyes, Baldwin disclosed that his scientists had developed an implant which could provide her with the same optical acuity as augmented eyes. The optical augmentation was implanted over her eye with a series of organic-plastic lenses. By interfacing directly with the neural tissue connected to her optic nerve, the prosthesis allowed her to capture the upper level of the visual spectrum, emitted as heat signatures.

Inside the building, there were currently five heat signatures. All on different levels. They’d just have to search for the Doctor. Blinking, she deactivated the enhancement and turned to Adam.

“There’s five people inside the building,” she informed him.

He arched an inquisitive eyebrow at her, a smile playing around his lips.

“What?” she asked irritably. “Did you count more?”

His low laugh rippled through the air. “No,” he responded, the side of his mouth twitching.

“I counted five,” he replied, deep voice vibrating in amusement.

Madison bared her teeth in agitation. “Care to share with the class what’s amusing you?”

Adam shook his head. “It’s not amusement.” Madison snorted her disbelief. “Well, not really,” Adam amended, as he struggled to stop his lips from tipping up into a smile.

“More unaccustomed to working with anyone. Especially someone with the same level of enhancement as mine.”

Madison made a dubious sound in the back of her throat. Adam was the most profoundly augmented person she’d encountered. She suspected he had a plethora of restricted augmentations he’d yet to show her. So Madison very much doubted they were on the same level of enhancement.

“What’s your approach?” she asked instead. Giving Adam the lead on this op since she was only there because of his good will.

Frowning, Adam turned towards the building, amusement extinguished like a flame to drift away in the wind. Adam’s expression hardened, it was impossible to read his intentions as his augmented green eyes rotated quickly as he scanned the building.

“From the schematics I’ve been able to pull up, there’s a back entrance. I don’t want to go in the front door. Too exposed and we might be watched.”

Madison nodded her agreement with this plan.

Skirting the side of the building, they approached the rear. A metal door barred their entrance. Adam reached out and curled his fingers around the handle. As he leaned into the door, it gave a faint groan, but didn’t budge. Adam growled quietly and leant his shoulder into the metal, applying his not inconsiderable mass to opening it. The metal screeched, painfully loud, announcing to anyone where they were.

The door budged. Another powerful knock with Adam’s shoulder and the door opened enough for them to slip through.

Inside the warehouse, fragments of plaster from the walls lay damp over a long untrodden floor, their only purpose to soak in the rain. Cold water had seeped through windows to nurse mildew on the walls.

The ground floor of the warehouse was filled with relics of old machinery, rusted and distorted. A thick layer of dust lay over every surface like dirty snow. The air tasted stale, motes of dust swirled around her as Adam walked cautiously through the graveyard of dead machines. Nothing else stirred on the ground floor, only the sound of their footsteps on the old floorboards.

Adam shot a quick look over his shoulder to make sure she was following and ascended the staircase. The exterior of the building was deceiving, the warehouse was larger than Madison expected. Craning her neck, she counted the levels. Five in all, not including the ground level.

It was an oddly designed building. Each level was open planned, a balustrade wrapped around each floor so that you could look down, or up, onto the other levels. The staircase sloped gently up onto each level, so that once you stepped onto the next story you had to walk around the balustrade to access the next flight of stairs.

On each level, they encountered a similar scene; an unruly landscape of rusted machines, scattered papers and leftover furniture. The machines were thickly encrusted with mould, and the smell of rot permeated the air.

As they stepped onto the third level, they encountered the first heat signature she’d identified outside the building. In an unerringly parallel action, Madison and Adam swung their heads to the right and stared at the slumped figure in front of them.

Retinal enhancement already activated, Madison scanned the figure, reading the data projected onto her retina.

**Toxicology**

\---- Blood Alcohol Concentration ---- <Tested> \--- POSITIVE *33%*

\---- Opiate --- <Tested> \--- POSITIVE *25%*

\---- RBC ---- <Tested> Abnormally high - Risk of dehydration and kidney problems

\----Glial nerve tissue build-up ---- <Neuropozyne levels> *3%* Rejection syndrome.

 

Madison blinked the data away, and shook her head sadly. Inside the bundle of clothes was a man suffering. She spied a bent spoon near the man’s leg. And using opioids to compensate for the painful symptoms of rejection syndrome.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

Adam looked over at her, anger sharpening his expression.

“Yeah,” he agreed, bitterness distorting his gravelly voice. “Panchaea really fucked everything up. People are dying because the government have restricted access to a drug which saves lives. They refuse to see the effects of that decision.”

Turning away from her, Adam climbed the next set of stairs. She followed his broad back, marking the tension tightening his shoulders.

As an Aug, it was natural for Adam to feel anger towards those who persecuted and subjugated him because of a lifestyle choice. For some it wasn’t even a lifestyle choice, becoming augmented was a lifesaving procedure. But whenever Adam spoke about Panchaea, it was with more than the usual anger. Hostility and resentment lurked behind his words. Madison suspected that Adam was hiding something about his knowledge of Panchaea. But it wasn’t her place to ask.

The next two levels they found other vagrants in various drug induced states. They posed no threat.

As she walked up the stairs to the last level, Madison heard the fluttering of an increased heartbeat well before she stepped onto the floor. The entire level looked like a machine burial ground. It was littered with the remains of whatever machines the processing plant used before it shut down.

They were mere skeletons of their former glory, stripped of their flesh long ago, looking like bleached bones in the diffuse glow of the moonlight. Bolted to the floor, the large frames were all that was left; scavengers had removed every piece of usable metal. After all, metal was at a premium. Plus there was the gadgetry inside that could be repurposed for incendiary devices.

Tucked in the far corner of the room, was a small office. And huddled in a corner behind a desk, Madison detected a heat signature.

“Dr. Kavanagh,” Adam called out quietly, walking slowly into the office.

The top of a woman’s head popped up over the desk.

“Mr. Jensen?” she asked tentatively.

Blue eyes appeared and darted anxiously around the room. They strayed to Adam, eyeing him warily before wandering around the room to latch onto Madison. Fear radiated from the woman’s eyes, her heartbeat thundering like a stampede of wildebeest. Alarm flitted across her expression, the Doctor’s pupils flaring as adrenaline coursed through her system.

“It’s okay,” Adam said soothingly, like he was talking to skittish horse. “You can come out. It’s safe,” he assured her.

Adam followed the direction of Kavanagh’s gaze. He let out a quiet sigh.

“Dr. Kavanagh. This is my colleague, Madison Turner. She’s here to help extract you.”

Shooting her a cautionary look, Adam shook his head in warning. Madison stifled the urge to roll her eyes. The woman was clearly terrified, she was not going to open with; ‘ _Your partner illegally experimented on me, do you know where he is so I can track him down and interrogate him_?’

“Dr. Kavanagh,” Adam tried again, the gentle words commanding the Doctor’s attention.

Kavanagh’s gaze skittered away from hers to fasten on to Adam’s face. She blew out a deep breath and stood up shakily. From the looks of her, Kavanagh had been fleeing from her pursuers for some time. Her short brown hair lay in lank strands around her face. Her clothes were rumpled, she likely hadn’t showered or changed in days. Her face was pale, dark smudges under her eyes denoting a lack of sleep. Exhaustion had likely chipped away at Kavanagh’s reserves until all that was left was an edgy, frightened shell of who she used to be, surviving on instinct.

Adam took a step forward, but Kavanagh flinched and he stopped.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Adam soothed. “I’m here to help.”

Those words sounded eerily familiar, something he’d said to Madison a few weeks ago when she was in Kavanagh’s position. Back then, she didn’t believe him.

Swallowing convulsively, moisture shone in Kavanagh’s eyes. “I haven’t slept in days,” she admitted, her haggard expression and the slight tremble in her voice corroborating this statement.

Taking another slow step forward, Adam stopped, waiting for Kavanagh to react to his closing proximity. When she didn’t cringe away, Adam stepped closer until he was a body length away from the Doctor. Kavanagh hadn’t moved from behind the desk. It was likely a safety measure, Kavanagh felt protected with something between her and Adam.

Lack of sleep, combined with a heightened state of fear meant that the Doctor was likely experiencing some measure of PTSD symptoms. That heightened state of arousal meant that Kavanagh had difficulty identifying real and perceived dangers, as evidenced by her reaction to Adam. She obviously trusted him to an extent if she contacted him, but her fatigued mind presented all types of discordant scenarios to her, no doubt seeing him as a threat.

The faintest scent, akin to the powdery scent of talcum powder, infused the air. Adam was using his Social Enhancer to chemically influence Kavanagh. The pheromone theoretically emitted no aroma, but Madison, with her enhanced capabilities, could always detect when a pheromone was released.

The C.A.S.I.E Social Enhancer discharged synthetic versions of naturally occurring pheromones. Only unlike natural pheromones, the synthetic substitute was substantially more powerful. Depending on the pheromone released, each had a distinct aroma. To provoke aggression, the pheromone secreted something more astringent, and to Madison smelt like acid. Adam was using was a calming pheromone, with the barest hint of a sedative, which emitted a sweeter scent.

The aroma dissipated abruptly, but the effects were almost instantaneous. Kavanagh’s shoulders relaxed, anxiety dripping from her still form to pool around her feet in a puddle. Fear still loitered behind her gaze, but the tension wound tight around her like a coiled spring, had eased slightly.

A look of mild discomfort crossed Adam’s face when he activated the pheromone. Madison had no moral objections to the use of pheromones to sway interrogations. It didn’t work with everyone. Other C.A.S.I.E users detected each other's implants in action and had the ability to resist the device's effects.

 “Do you want to tell me what’s happened since you left Rifleman Bank Station?” Adam prodded.

Dropping her gaze, Kavanagh traced her fingers across the wooden desk. The pine was bubbled from water damage, no doubt rough with dozens of splinters. Kavanagh pulled her finger back sharply when a sliver embedded beneath her skin. She took a sharp breath in, staring at her fingers as a drop of blood beaded on the surface.

“I can’t find him. Gary,” she clarified. “I should have just listened to him and kept my head down. Now Belltower want me dead and I have nowhere to go.”

Madison stiffened at the mention of the man who experimented on her. As if pulled by some indiscernible force, Madison took a step towards Kavanagh. Adam noticed the movement and turned his head to glare at her. She felt the heat of that stare scorching her face, and could almost feel the invisible hackles bristle along her spine in challenge.

Kavanagh’s gaze slid towards her, the calm which had seeped across her expression slowly tapering away as a frown formed. Madison schooled her expression into careful blankness, aware Kavanagh’s mood was quickly tipping towards her previous anxiety induced state. If Kavanagh saw the anger Madison felt pushing against her skin, no doubt contorting her expression into something livid; she’d likely withdraw into herself again.

“Burke would have killed you. You did the right thing by leaving,” Adam interrupted, with a hard look in Madison’s direction.

Blanching, Kavanagh blinked rapidly as tears threatened to spill over her eyes. “Where is Burke? He’s the one who’s been sending his soldiers after me. I just know it.”

Silence met this statement, but there was an angry edge to Adam’s expression. There were people who believed that replacing human eyes with something mechanical meant that emotion couldn’t be captured anymore. But Madison didn’t believe that. Especially since she was staring straight at Adam, and could actually see the antagonism flaring in his eyes, something icy and penetrating flickering in those depths.

“Burke’s dead,” Adam said tonelessly.

Those two words dropped into the still pool of silence, plummeting slowly into the bottom of Kavanagh’s mind, creating a ripple effect as the shock rolled over Kavanagh’s face in a distorted wave.

“Then how are Belltower still after me? Only Burke knew of the evidence I had on their organization,” she said.

“Someone else must have known. What happened to you Dr. Kavanagh? How did you end up here? After you left Rifleman Bank station, I assumed you’d be able to give the evidence to someone.”

“I tried,” Kavanagh exclaimed, an edge of hysteria creeping in. “But Belltower was always one step ahead. I’ve been on the run for months. I’ve tried uploading the evidence to the Internet, new stations, but it was always intercepted. I’ve managed to elude the teams they’ve sent after me. Today I was supposed to meet someone who could help me. It’s why I’m here, I was supposed to hand the evidence over to my contact but they never showed.”

“What evidence?” Madison interrupted.

Her question hung limply in the air, slowly wilting under the glower from Adam and the anxious stare from Kavanagh.

Madison crossed her arms and met Adam’s truculent gaze, feeling a similar heat bleed into her own eyes. Impatience was slowly chipping away at Madison’s tolerance levels. She had no idea what Rifleman Bank Station was, didn’t care about this Burke person. While she could see the Doctor was obviously terrified, Madison needed answers. Maybe the evidence she was talking about implicated Savage.

Ignoring the irritation clouding Adam’s features, Madison let her gaze touch on Kavanagh. Biting her lip, she eyed Madison uncertainly.

“It’s okay,” Adam interrupted, the low growl in his voice contradicting this declaration. “You can tell Madison.”

Hesitating, Kavanagh shot Adam an ambiguous look before her gaze settled on Madison’s face. Clearly trying to decide if she could decipher Adam’s conflicting signals about Madison’s trustworthiness.

“I worked at a Belltower owned facility called Rifleman Bank Station,” Kavanagh began, smoothing a hand through her hair. “I worked there as a scientist on the O.C.M project.”

At Madison’s blank look, Kavanagh clarified. “Organic computational matrix. It’s a means of cross-connecting living brain tissue and artificial intelligence systems to create a super-computer of unparalleled capability. It was for the Hyron project.”

Hyron project. What the fuck was that? Kavanagh continued, pulling Madison from her musings.

“…I was sent by VersaLife’s CEO Bob Page to get the project back on track. But,” Kavanagh faltered, dropped her gaze as an angry red flush bloomed down her neck and across her chest.

“But when I got there, I discovered what was really involved with the O.C.M project. Belltower had kidnapped and imprisoned women in the facility. They were experimented on against their will. The women were subjected to tests; biopsies, blood tests and more, to determine their compatibility with the project.  If they were augmented, some of their existing augmentations were detached. If the women’s augmentations were unremovable, they were considered inappropriate for the project and terminated. The drone transformation procedure commenced once the women’s genetic markers were matched to the parameters we needed for the project.”

Kavanagh lip quivered, and she gave the impression of shrinking into herself, every word she spoke settling on her shoulders and pushing her down like a physical weight. 

“The drone transformation procedure involved the replacement of the abducted women’s spinal cord and section of the brain with mechanical augmentations specifically designed to interface with Hyron.”

“Wait,” Madison interjected. “The Hyron project is ….”

“Is a series of quantum computers that are connected to live human beings. It’s the most advanced computer system in the world.”

“Connected how? Through those women?” Madison asked, abhorrence creeping into her voice.

“Yes,” Kavanagh confirmed, voice barely above a whisper.

“Gary and I were responsible for these transferences. But after working there for months, and reading previous research, I discovered that these procedures were rarely successful. We were unable to prevent glial tissue build-up so the women rarely lived for more than a year once they were attached to Hyron.”

Scrubbing a hand across her face, Kavanagh grimaced, shame marked clearly on her features. Madison swallowed her disgust as she realized the extent of the project and Belltower’s involvement.

“Why couldn’t you walk away from this project? Or at least inform the proper authorities?”

“Because,” Adam interrupted, gravelly voice scraping like sandpaper, “Rifleman Bank Station was situated in the middle of the ocean.”

Madison made a non-committal sound in her throat. And just how did Adam fit into all this? Maybe she needed to start asking him questions, whether it was her business or not. With a lingering look in Adam’s direction, Madison shifted her attention back to Kavanagh.

“So you have evidence of Belltower’s association with the Hyron project?” Madison asked, keeping her voice as steady as she could despite the fury snapping through her synapses.

Kavanagh nodded, tapping a pocket inside her jacket. “Yes, on a hard drive I keep with me constantly.”

Madison fell quiet as she digested this. It was important the world knew about this perfidious use of human life. And once again Gary Savage was at the middle of it. Not content to stop at experimentation on her, he’d further contaminated himself with this project. Those women. Madison felt a deep sorrow and strange affinity for their plight. They’d never asked to be experimented on and as a result their lives were forfeited in the name of science. Just like hers.

Madison felt Adam’s gaze on her and turned to look at him. Despite his smooth glassed expression, a cold, hard anger was frozen in place, ready to shatter into pieces at the slightest provocation. She imagined her own expression was some appropriation of the outrage she felt surging thought her body like some emotional electrical current.

The Doctor hadn’t spoken again, so the silence was uncomfortably spreading between the three of them.

“Where do you want me to take you?” Adam asked Kavanagh, flicking his gaze towards her before settling back on Madison.

It was a loaded question, directed at her as much as Kavanagh. Madison’s jaw clenched, indecision rooting her to the ground. Where did she go? With Adam and Kavanagh, or venture out on her own? It was obvious Kavanagh had no idea where Savage was.

But Kavanagh did have information on Belltower. And if Adam was to be believed, Belltower had something to do with placing her in that stasis hatch for two months. But how did this all connect? It was a frustrating jigsaw she couldn’t put together because she didn’t have all the pieces.

About to ask Kavanagh about Savage, Madison’s jaw snapped shut when her ears picked up the faintest sound. It was a low thump, a rhythmic beat which was immediately identifiable. Helicopter.

“Shit,” she muttered, turned and ran through the maze of machinery towards a window.

_/_I_/_

Adam heard Madison’s muttered expletive, was in the process of turning to look at her when she ran out of the office. No, not just ran, actually blurred in the corner of his vision from how fast she was.

Kavanagh flinched at Madison’s sudden movement. Adam gritted his teeth. She was just calming down, the re-telling of her plight somehow therapeutic. Her vitals had stabilized, heart rate was normal, cortisol levels reduced. Of course, the pheromones he’d released had no doubt helped.

“Stay here,” Adam commanded, looking across as Kavanagh.

She nodded vigorously, shrinking back behind the desk. Walking out of the office, Adam heard the distinguishable low thump of rotors. He quickened his pace, weaving around machinery until he approached Madison. Fuck. Now he understood her reaction.

Madison had taken up position next to a large latticed window. More than half the glass was shattered so the wind billowed through the gaps, carrying the throbbing sound of the approaching helicopter.

Tension was seeping out of Madison’s still figure to fill the space around her; Adam felt the potency of the emotion brushing against his senses.

Taking up positon on the other side of the window, Adam glanced outside. The night sky was haze of black cloud that stretched thinly above, moonlight bleaching the surrounding area in a soft grey hue. Activating his Smart Vision, Adam watched the rotors slicing through the clouds mercilessly as he calculated the distance. They had less than three minutes.

“It’s Belltower,” Madison commented quietly. “It’s an AH-3 Cobra. Belltower’s own design anti-armor, close attack helicopter.”

Glancing across at her, the moon’s gentle ivory rays shimmered across her face, but did nothing to soften her harsh expression. The golden strands of her optical augmentation flared in her green eyes, flickering in agitation as she turned to face him.

“How do you know?” he asked, tilting his head towards the approaching helicopter.

A shadow of a smile touched her lips. “I’ve had dealings with their organization before,” she replied cryptically, a hint of asperity in her tone.

“I’ll go downstairs and hold them off. You protect Kavanagh,” Madison outlined, slipping a combat knife out of the sheath on her back.

She turned to walk away before Adam opened his mouth to protest.

“Wait,” he demanded.

She didn’t. Growling quietly, he caught up to her and, grabbed her shoulder. Madison whipped around quickly, dropped her shoulder so that his hand slid off. Agitation flashed across her face as she bared her teeth at him.

“Don’t touch me,” she snarled.

Adam’s gaze dropped to the knife in her hand. Her fingers were curled around the hilt so tightly they were white from lack of circulation. At least she didn’t try to stab him.

Grimacing, Madison dropped her gaze, anger and awkwardness making an odd combination of her expression.

“Sorry,” she snapped, the strain obvious in her tone. “I’m sorry,” she reiterated, voice softening on the end of a dejected sigh.

Madison glanced sharply out the window, concentration stripping away the discomfort marking her features. Yeah, he saw it too. The soldiers were rappelling down from the helicopter.

“You’re going to take on a Belltower unit by yourself?” Adam asked mildly, choosing to ignore her outburst.

Turning to face him, Madison cocked her head slightly, the movement reminding him of a predator coolly assessing its prey.

“Won’t be the first time,” she answered, an antagonistic grin spreading across her face. “Besides, you have to protect Kavanagh. She’s the one they’re after and they will kill her the first chance they get.”

Crossing his arms, Adam hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of Madison facing a unit of Belltower soldiers by herself. But she had a point. If it was just the two of them, they could have already vacated the building. With Kavanagh tagging along, they wouldn’t have made it down the stairs before the soldiers entered the building. Madison could thin their numbers while Adam concentrated on protecting Kavanagh.

“Be careful,” he cautioned.

It wasn’t like he could stop her anyway. An uncompromising smile flickered over her mouth before she turned away. Adam watched her jog towards the stairs, grab the balustrade and lithely jump over. Before she disappeared, the outline of her figure blurred briefly in an odd distortion as she activated her cloaking augmentation.

Adam turned and made his way back towards Kavanagh. Inside the office, he walked around the desk to see the Doctor had dropped down and was curled up in a ball.

“Dr. Kavanagh.”

Her head whipped up, a whirlpool of panic sparking in her eyes.

“Stay behind the desk. Do _not_ come out under any circumstances.”

Kavanagh managed to nod her acceptance.

Stalking out of the office, he engaged his wrist blade. It slid out of its sheath with a small, satisfying snick. He stilled abruptly when he heard a pain-filled scream slither through the night, before it was cut off abruptly.

Five stories down, one of the Belltower soldiers had encountered Madison. Muted gunfire and shouts from the men floated almost languidly to his position. Adam clenched his jaw in agitation. He should have insisted they meet the unit together.

A sound pulled Adam’s thoughts away from Madison. The thump of another helicopter reached his ears.

Turning, he crouched low and ran towards the other side of the building. He was just in time to see the distinctive shadow of a drone veer past the window.

“Shit,” Adam muttered as he retracted his wrist blade and pulled the Zenith pistol from its holder on his thigh.

The Zenith was his preferred weapon. A 10mm polymer framed semi-automatic pistol, it came equipped with laser sights, extended magazine, armor-piercing rounds, and had exceptional handling. Thumbing the safety off, Adam then flicked the laser light on.

When the drone veered back into view, Adam sighted it with the laser. As soon as the red dot alighted on its black exoskeleton, it swerved instantaneously. Shit. The drone most likely had some kind of photosensitive plating that responded when a targeting laser hit it. Adam reacted instantly, not giving the drone time to swerve away. Finger curling around the trigger, he placed a burst fire shot into the heart of the drone.

The compensator in his Cybernetic Arm counteracted the recoil, and Adam watched as his bullet hit precisely where he’d intended. The drone sparked, little flashes of white light speckling the night as it swerved unsteadily like a drunk bee, before it dropped from the sky.

Adam didn’t have time to switch his attention from the window to the churning of the helicopter, because two more drones appeared. They hovered angrily in the air, as if taking the death of their mechanical counterpart to heart.

In the process of sighting the drone closest to him, the other opened fire. Adam threw himself back behind the frame of the nearest machine. The bullets hissed furiously, and disconcertingly, close to his head, thunking into the metal as he flattened himself on the ground.

He heard the buzzing as the drone swerved to another window to try to get a better angle at him. Adam swore as he peeked around the corner, but quickly withdrew as the drone opened fire. The drone had a laser sight of its own, glowing an angry red as it churned what seemed to be a continuous supply of ammunition.

The sound of breaking glass had Adam’s head swinging in the direction of the other drone. His Smart Vision automatically sought out the aberration in the darkness. Three grenades trundled around the room, the canisters already pouring out their noxious contents before they came to a complete stop.

Adam scrolled through the data provided by his Smart Vision, identifying the substance.

\---* _Cyanocarbon_ * --- Defining component of tear gas - referred to as <CS gas>

\--- _Riot control agent_ \--- Exposure causes irritation of the nose,

mouth and throat membranes causing profuse coughing,

mucous nasal discharge, disorientation, and difficulty breathing

 

As Adam blinked the data away, he felt the Rebreather component in his chest activate. Concealed in his chest cavity, the augmentation was triggered automatically in the presence of airborne or aerosol toxins, rendering them ineffective.

Kavanagh, however, did not have this augmentation. Already, wisps of silver smoke curled unerringly towards the office. Adam hissed in agitation. There was nothing he could do until the drones were taken care of.

The drone continued to fire on his position in short bursts, banking to either side like a demented bird. Adam’s patience, already fraying, snapped completely. He stood up, allowed his Smart Vision to track the drone, bared his teeth and in the precise moment the drone veered away from his position, stepped out of cover and let the chatter of his pistol talk for him. His bullets must have hit the drone’s control panel, because it circled like an irate spinning top, smoke billowing out, before plunging towards the ground.

Glass shattered to the right of the building. Adam dropped down immediately, whipped his head towards the sound and saw eight Belltower soldiers rappel into the building.

Immediately, Adam cloaked, the electromagnetic field changing the frequency of radiation around him to render him ‘invisible’. The soldiers landed smoothly, disengaged their pulleys and pulled out their weapons.

The Belltower soldiers moved into a tight formation, heading towards the office. Adam holstered his pistol and engaged his blades. He had half a minute, if that, before they reached Kavanagh’s position.

Adam ran towards the soldiers, unconcerned that they’d hear his approach. The shock-absorbing liquid polymer buffers inside his prosthesis allowed hint to sprint silently with minimal sound.

The last two soldiers in the formation had no idea of their impeding deaths. Adam rounded the corner, saw the distinct grey uniform of Belltower, and sunk his two blades into the back of both soldiers. The blades slid past their combat vests with ease, meeting only minute resistance when it hit bone.

As he pulled the blades out, the soldiers swayed unsteadily as they let out an almost identical gurgle. Adam was already moving past them before they toppled to the floor.

The other two soldiers in front must have sensed movements because they turned, semi-automatic weapons gleaming in the wan light. Not that they could see him. The soldiers’ gazes drifted towards their fallen companions. Adam knew he couldn’t maintain the cloaking for much longer, already it was draining too much bio-energy while he was using his other augmentations.

Before they could react, Adam put on a burst of speed. Retracting his blades, he grabbed hold of both soldiers’ heads and smashed them together. He heard a fleshy crack as their skulls collided. He doubted they’d walk away from the force he’d used.

He felt his cloak drain away at the most unpropitious time that the other four soldiers turned towards his position. As one they lifted their weapons towards him. Adam grabbed the back of one soldier’s combat vest he’d just neutralized, lifted him up with ease and threw him towards the four other soldiers. It was like a human game of bowling. Two of the soldiers reacted quick enough to dart away from their flying comrade. The dead soldier’s weight collided with the remaining two and they fell in an awkward heap of limbs.

Adam ducked back behind a machine just as the fastest soldier reacted and opened fire on his position. He didn’t stay behind the distorted scrap metal, instead pushed himself from the machine and ran into the warren of machinery.

The plan was to draw the soldiers away from Kavanagh’s position. Now that they knew there was someone else in the building, Belltower would pursue him. He knew how Belltower operated. Eliminating a threat would be their primary objective. Kavanagh was a defenceless civilian. He was not.

Adam was not planning on running towards the exit, although he made it look like he was. In fact, he was going to circle around and engage from behind. If there was one thing he could count on, it was Belltower’s predictable reaction to threat analysis.

He used the darkness to his advantage, the shadows melding like wax to his black augmentations. Ducking corners, Adam maneuvered the darkened space confidently, hearing the soldiers pursuing him but unable to keep pace.

Even if the soldiers had something similar to his Wayfinder Radar System, they couldn’t track him. Recently, Sarif had upgraded his anti-detection software. While the Glass Shield Cloaking System could render him invisible for a short period, the IR or Infrared Radiation augmentation made it impossible for radar systems to identify him.

Mylar foil, with its gas barrier properties and electrical insulation, was the most effective method of blocking IR heat signatures. Since Adam found he often had to infiltrate areas with IR imaging, and couldn’t using his cloaking system every time because he’d drain too much bio-energy, Sarif had created a new augmentation to combat infrared radar.

By using similar chemical properties to Mylar foil, Sarif had bonded the matrix to the plating of his augmentations. It wasn’t an active augmentation, and would only work on drones or optical augmentations which could identify heat signatures.

The IR augmentation was serving him well in his current situation. Adam could hear the confusion in the soldier’s shouted commands as they tried to determine his position.

Circling back, Adam rounded a corner and dropped low when he saw his first target. Semi-automatic weapon gleamed menacingly in the moonlight as the soldier swung it in a slow arc. Turning down an aisle, Adam followed him quietly. When the soldier turned again Adam leapt forward, grabbed the soldier in a choke hold and snapped his neck. He was in the process of lowering the man’s body to the floor when another soldier rounded the corner.

The soldier saw Adam and opened fire. Launching to the side, the muzzle created a firework of sparks out the corner of his eye. He felt one bullet hit his arm, and had a fleeting moment of appreciation for the metal which had saved him from a bullet wound.

Rolling to the side, Adam reached for his gun mid-roll, gained his feet in one smooth motion, turned and fired three shots at the soldier. The first shot caught the man’s vest, made him stagger back. The subsequent shots hit home, cutting  a path through the soldier’s throat, the other shearing off the top of his head. Blood spurted like rain, drizzling the floor in a macabre display.

Adam didn’t stop to watch the show, instead sensed movement behind him, whipped around and opened fire on the soldier foolishly running in the open towards Adam. The soldier screamed as bullets thudded into his groin and legs, the only parts unprotected by vests or pads. Agony reverberated in the sound, making Adam wince slightly.

Kill or be killed. Didn’t mean he had to relish the loss of life.

That small moment of inattention cost Adam. He hadn’t heard the other solider approach. Danger brushed his senses, a tingling awareness which sharpened everything around him.

Adam’s head swung to the left, pulled by an invisible force. The shadows blended effortlessly with the remaining Belltower soldier’s grey uniform, an opaqueness clinging to his outline creating an ominous affect.

With his gun pointing towards the floor, and as fast as he was, Adam doubted he could bring it up in time. Considering the barrel of the soldier’s weapon was already pointing at him, glinting mockingly. In that odd otherworldly, slow-motion effect which happens in times of peril, Adam saw the gaping maws of impeding death slowing gnashing towards him.

It was strange; he had time to mark minute details, the type of weapon, an FR-27 SFR, the brown eyes of the man looking down the barrel, but couldn’t bring his arm up. Seconds stretched between them like molasses, sticking to his nerves, coating them in adrenaline.

Then time snapped like a rubber band, the odd sluggishness saturating his limbs falling away as Adam raised his weapon.

The soldier’s finger curled around the trigger but he never got the opportunity to fire. Adam saw a knife pinwheel through the air to the right of the solider, before embedding into his neck with unerring precision. The man’s head jerked to the side, it looked like he was cocking his head questioningly at him, before Adam’s bullet made a neat hole in the center of his forehead.

The man’s body was jolted violently into the nearest machine. He hit it with an audible thump and almost seemed to melt to the floor, dead before his head connected with the ground.

Madison strode into view, gaze snapping to his face. Adam was a little surprised to see the concern in her eyes before she swept her gaze over his body, green eyes probing. Adam was similarly assessing her for sign of injury. Apparently satisfied with his unharmed state, Madison dropped her gaze to touch on the bodies strewn around him.

Turning, Madison took one step towards the soldier she’d killed, bent over and retrieved her combat knife from the soldier’s neck. She made a face at the blood, wiped both sides almost absently on the soldier’s uniform, before sheathing it. Standing up, her eyes darted around the room.

“That’s the last of them,” Adam assured her.

Madison swung her gaze back towards him, frowned, but then nodded, evidently decided to accept his assessment.

“The unit downstairs has been neutralized,” Madison supplied.

Adam nodded. What he’d taken for reckless arrogance on her part was simply self-assurance and confidence in her ability and training. She’d certainly proved more than capable of handling herself. Despite her prickliness, which he didn’t actually blame her for considering what she’d been through, Madison _had_ saved his life.

“What about Kavanagh?” Madison asked.

Those words were barely out of Madison’s mouth before Adam heard the recognizable buzz of another drone.

“Shit,” he cursed, turned and ran towards Kavanagh.

Adam just rounded the corner when the drone hovered outside the office, the rotary canons unwinding silently. He reached for his gun, but wasn’t quick enough to shoot the damn thing before it opened fire. The muzzle lit up the small space, igniting like a flint, tearing a path of utter destruction in its wake.

He heard Madison’s gun snapping beside him, their combined firepower thudding into the drone. Smoke poured from the chassis as it swerved into the wall, exploding impressively on impact. The drone was engorged in black smoke, the burning debris belching flames.

Ignoring the drone’s remains, Adam ran into the office, dread settling like an anchor in his stomach. The entire office was riddled with bullet holes; concentrated bursts had chipped the rotting plaster so that it hung like limp sheets.

Skidding around the desk, Adam dropped to his knees beside Kavanagh’s prone body. Bullets had ripped into her chest, blood coated her clothes and was slowly dripping down to surround her body, leaving a red outline.

Kavanagh’s blue eyes stared sightlessly up towards the ceiling. The small space still crackled with the violent energy created by the drone, briefly irritating the lifelessness surrounding the Doctor. Adam felt Madison step in close behind him.

“Ah, fuck,” she cursed, anger creating a vibration with her voice to match the building enmity Adam felt.

Reaching over, Adam gently closed Kavanagh’s eyes, shoulders slumping in disappointment. He’d forgotten about the last drone. That mistake had cost Kavanagh her life. She didn’t deserve that.

A slew of curses poured out of his mouth when Adam realized that Kavanagh’s evidence had likely been damaged in the assault. Reaching over, Adam ignored the blood and opened Kavanagh’s jacket pocket. He retrieved the hard drive, disconcerted to find that a bullet had pierced it.

A small hope bloomed. It hadn’t shattered, only one bullet had pierced the casing. Some information may be salvageable. And Adam just happened to know the one person who could pull information off the drive. If anyone could recover data, it’d be Pritchard. He just had to get the straight-laced analyst to actually agree to do it.

_/_I_/_

The beautiful ornate windows were shuttered when Madison had walked into Adam’s apartment. She must have missed a button he pressed because when she turned back they were opening silently to expose a stunning view.

The cityscape pulled her towards the windows, but it didn’t stop Madison from taking in the content of Adam’s apartment.  It was an odd miscellany of neo-classical, Industrial and, without being rude, archetypal bachelor going by the cereal boxes, empty alcohol and take-out containers.

It was almost as if someone had designed the apartment for him, from the chaise sofa, to the striking rug beneath it, but Adam had ignored it in preference of a small corner table near the huge television on the wall. It was covered in books, guns, ammunition, papers. The table seemed to be the hub of the apartment, everything else haphazardly spilled from that small space.

In fact, the apartment very much reminded Madison of her house. Especially the weapons. If there was anything a soldier kept clean, it was their guns. The house and everything else came a distant second. She smiled ruefully at the memory of her previous life, sadness fluttering inside her, like a moth’s wings.

The breathtaking view from the top floor of the Chiron building wasn’t the only thing she found impressive. Adam lived on the top floor of one of the most expensive apartment buildings in Detroit. Sarif obviously paid Adam _very_ well.

But the apartment didn’t have a ‘lived in’ feeling. It felt more like a brief stopover. Almost like a hotel room. Like Adam had tried to stamp his presence on the place but had only managed to mark it, never really develop a permanent indentation.

Madison settled her shoulder against the windowpane and let her gaze roam over the city. Buildings stretched for miles, their lights blanketing the city in a grid pattern plain to see from this height.

When Adam walked back into the living room, the still pool of serenity she’d tried to wrap around herself was slowly being inflitrated by Adam’s agitation. It had been a challenging night, both physically and emotionally. Tiredness was pulling at her limbs, scraping at her mind. She closed her eyes briefly before turning to watch Adam pace around the room.

“…this is important Pritchard.”

Adam’s jaw flexed as he listened to the other side of the conversation on his InfoLink.

“No, I can’t bring the hard drive in. We just went over why …. I’m not being paranoid, Belltower attacked us for this information …. I’ll expect you in 10 minutes,” Adam growled.

“Asshole,” he muttered, having evidentially signed off.

Madison felt a smile tug at her lips. It wasn’t a far off assessment. She’d met Pritchard briefly when he’d taken her bio-metrics for her new I.D. He’d been brusque and surly, but Madison could overlook that considering his expertise.

Hands clenching, Adam blew out a deliberately slow breath, relaxed his shoulders, turned and looked at her.

“Pritchard will be here soon. Hopefully he can pull something from the drive,” Adam informed her, making a decent effort to sound calm but his voice still sounded like he’d chewed on powdered glass.

“You hope he comes over,” Madison pointed out lightly.

Adam shrugged. “He will.” Steel wound through the two words, cementing the lethality of his intent. _If Pritchard likes to keep his body parts attached_ , was what Adam meant.

Rolling his shoulders, the agitation fell like autumn leaves from Adam’s body as he walked towards the kitchen.

“Did you want something to eat or drink? I’ve got cereal or Coke.”

Madison snorted. “Tempting. Maybe something with a bit more bite?” she asked hopefully.

She may as well be drinking Coke for all the good alcohol would do. Fucking nanites. She couldn’t even get drunk anymore. But she still liked the brief flare of fire in her throat before her body burnt the alcohol from her system.

His sharp laugh hovered in the air as Adam reached over and grabbed a bottle. “Scotch okay?”

Madison nodded. She wandered over to the kitchen bench, watched as Adam filled the two crystal glasses with the amber liquid. He held out a glass to her. When she reached out, her fingers brushed his, startling her. She sucked in a breath as she felt the slight warmth in his fingers. She’d expected to feel the detached coolness of metal. His fingers should be cold, not generate _any_ warmth. Augmentations should be the same lowered temperature as metal. Why weren’t his?

Adam’s black metallic fingers uncurled from the glass, reminding Madison of a coiled snake slowly unfurling itself from a warm rock. When her gaze flicked up to his, she watched the luminescent green of his eyes revolve in a slow circle. It was hypnotic, as if she’d been pulled inside the eye of a storm. Like the maelstrom of her troubles were whirling around on the periphery, unable to touch her inside this calm interior. There was a distinctive intensity about Adam, an almost languid apparition of danger. But beneath that there was a stillness, an equanimity that made his presence feel like a soothing balm.

She stepped back abruptly, the movement sloshing liquid over the glass. The detachment Madison worked so hard on constructing was slowly being chipped away, small indentations being gouged out by the people around her. Madison had learnt the hard way that she couldn’t afford attachments. She couldn’t suffer more loss, it was easier to remain aloof. Of course, Adam most likely thought she was more than aloof. More like unpredictable and volatile, considering how she’d reacted to when he’d touched her. She'd panicked, had't expected it. She really should apologize again.

“I’ve been meaning to thank you,” Adam said quietly, jolting her abruptly from her reverie.

“For what?” she asked.

She avoided his gaze, instead wiped her hand with the spilt alcohol on her pants. Adam cleared his throat, the sound punctured with awkwardness.

“For killing that Belltower soldier. I wouldn’t have been fast enough to shoot him. You save my life.”

 A smile curled her lips. “I doubt that. And now we’re even.”

They weren’t really, if there was a running tally. Adam had more than saved he from rape and death. He’d helped her create a new life.

Adam snorted, a matching shadow of a smile touching his lips. They fell quiet after that, both sipping the liquid and content with their own thoughts.

The slight burn and pleasant buzz from the Scotch lasted only a few minutes, but Madison did feel the tension slowly wringing from her muscles.

“What are you going to do with Dr. Kavanagh?” Madison asked, reluctant to break the comfortable silence but wanting to know anyway. They couldn’t leave her in Highland Park, but they couldn’t just bring her to the Police either. They’d had to leave her covered in Sarif’s company car.

Adam’s expression tightened immediately, anger igniting in his gaze. “I’ve got some people who can make some discreet inquiries. See if she has relatives, and then I’ll let them know.”

A knock on the door stalled Madison’s answer. Adam’s already irritated expression turned sour when he placed his empty glass on the table. Madison gulped the rest of hers, positioned the tumbler next to Adam’s and waited.

“Seriously Jensen, it’s 2:00 in the morning, you ask me to walk the four blocks to your apartment _alone_ , I might add, the least you could have…”

Pritchard’s nasal voice petered out as he walked into Adam’s apartment and noticed Madison. Opening his mouth, Pritchard closed it again as his gaze roved over her. The analysts’ mouth tipped up into a knowing sneer.

“Well. I see what _you’ve_ been doing Jensen.”

Pritchard gave her a supercilious smile, which only seemed to make him seem even more obnoxious. Madison and Adam ignored the jibe. Pritchard walked past Madison, carrying two large bags, and disappeared into another room.

“Asshole,” Adam muttered to his departing back.

Madison snorted, following Adam as he walked into the other room. There was already an impressive array of computer equipment in Adam’s bedroom, but Pritchard was emptying contents from his bag to add to it. And it wasn’t really much of a bedroom. Just like the rest of his apartment, there were few personal possessions. No photographs either.

Leaning over, Adam placed the hard drive on the desk. Pritchard snapped it up, held it in front of his face, eyeing it speculatively.

“There’s a bullet hole in the middle of it,” Pritchard noted, in the same tone he’d be commenting about the weather.

The security analyst’s eyes strayed across to Adam, who was now leaning against the wall, half shrouded in darkness. Pritchard hadn’t turned the light on when he entered, so the only illumination came from the computer screens.

 “Your power of observation astounds me,” Adam replied drolly.

“And who died so you could retrieve this?” Pritchard asked flippantly.

The flickering of the screens edged across Adam’s face, highlighting his expression as it hardened into a granite-like visage. Pushing off against the wall, Adam took two quick steps towards Pritchard, who flinched at Adam’s proximity. Unbeknownst to Pritchard, he’d hit a nerve when asking that question.

“Can you get data from the drive or not?”

The sheer physicality of Adam’s presence, his tall frame looming over Pritchard, combined with the threatening growl echoing behind his words, was obviously too much for the analyst. He pulled back in the chair as if stung.

“Back off Jensen,” Pritchard snapped, the usual snark which lurked behind his tone replaced with anger and tentative fear.

Madison felt Adam’s low rumble resonating in the marrow of her bones. He took a step back, carefully folding his emotions back inside himself as his expression morphed into something carefully impassive.

Pritchard scowled. “Neanderthal,” he hissed with a final glare at Adam.

The tapping of the keyboard bounced around the room, drilling into the dull silence of expectation. Madison looked over at Adam. His arms were crossed, a strained calm affixed to his expression.

“I’ve been able to recover some data,” Pritchard declared, after what seemed like hours.

Swallowing nervously, Madison stepped towards the desk. Pritchard tapped the screen.

“It’s not a lot. I might be able to recover more in time, but it’s a delicate operation. I’d have to try and reconstruct the metadata. But, we have some initial information. There are a few names here which are mentioned repeatedly. A Doctor Tiffany Kavanagh, Gary Savage, Pieter Burke,” Pritchard whittled off.

“Hmm, there’s mention of something called the Juggernaut Collective. Emails from someone called Janus. And Quinn…”

“Wait,” Adam interrupted, bending closer to the screen, “Garvin Quinn?”

Pritchard eyed Adam warily. “Yeah. Do you know him?”

Adam shrugged. “Kind of. He was at Rifleman Bank Station.”

“What about Belltower? This hard drive had evidence of..” Madison stopped abruptly, not knowing if she could trust Pritchard.

“Of their involvement with the Hyron project,” Pritchard finished for her, lifting his chin in challenge.

“It’s okay,” Adam assured her. “Pritchard knows what’s going on. He can be trusted…for the most part,” he muttered.

Sending Adam a withering glare, Pritchard bent over in his chair to concentrate on the screen.

“To answer your question,” Pritchard nodded at her, “there isn’t a lot here. Most of the data is inaccessible. What I’ve come up with is just a quick skim of the accessible data. Give me some more time. I’ve got programs that may help with uncovering something you can use.”

Madison straightened, rubbing a hand over her face, feeling the gritty tiredness clinging to her mind, making it difficult to form coherent thoughts. Madison hoped Pritchard could find something, she didn’t want Kavanagh to have died without cause.

Pritchard grunted. “There’s a huge file here. Project Proteus….”

Snapping straight, fatigue unwrapped from her mind like a ribbon. She’d heard that name before….

“Project Proteus,” she murmured. Then, like lightening, white bolts of comprehension snapped through her consciousness.

“Do you know what it is?” Adam asked.

When she looked over, Adam was again leaning against the wall, a black presence against the twisting shadows of the room. She felt his scrutiny, let it press against her as she decided what to say. Baldwin, Project Proteus, Belltower, Savage. It all seemed to be connected and she was beginning to realize she couldn’t hope to decipher it on her own. But could she take the risk? Could she trust Adam to help her? Because it was obvious their paths would interconnect, it made sense from a logistical aspect to tackle this together.

Blowing out a deep breath, Madison locked eyes with Adam. “Proteus a highly classified Army project. I saw the name in Baldwin’s files before he captured me. I didn’t have enough time to look into it, but I’m certain that was one of his projects.”

Rubbing a hand over her face, Madison stared steadily at Adam. “How the hell does all this fit together?”

Adam shook his head. “I don’t know. But we may have a starting point. Garvin Quinn.”


	13. Chapter 11

_From the street came a peculiar, blood-chilling sound. It was like the low snarling of numerous voices. It grew louder and louder until it became a sullen, muttering roar. It was the sound of hundreds of people joining together in their hatred and fear, combining that negative force until it crackled and resonated like thunder._

_Men, women, young, old; all were united in their revulsion and animosity towards Augs._

_Like a venomous snake, the crowd slithered around the streets, converging towards their destination._

_Sarif Industries stood silently sentinel against this tide of destructive humanity. They’d marched with purpose towards the most obvious outlet for their rage. That black building, shining like an elitist beacon for all those bent on destroying its light._

_Barriers, flimsy now considering the pulsing force of the crowd, stood like children’s toys around the entrance. Police on horseback patrolled the entrance, their disdain for this protection detail obvious in their relaxed postures. The horses pranced nervously, snorting their uneasiness as the crowd inched towards their goal._

_Voices joined in harmony, shouting vitriol which spilled like lava from their lips. The crowd’s dissatisfaction amped up. They wanted bloodshed, violence and brutality to satiate their ill-conceived need for retribution._

_One man threw an object. It skittered close to the doors but ceased its desired trajectory before it could do any damage. Another threw an object. And another. Until the sound of smashed glass echoed through the crowd, acting as an accelerant._

_In moments, the crowd converged towards the building, flashes of anger, jeers, shouting. Another window was smashed. Some people panicked and dissipated as fast as they could, fleeing down side streets. But the core of them stayed, burning cars, looting, smashing, destroying property with no thought to whom it belonged to._

_They had become a mob, mindless and dangerous. Anyone who tried to stop them was beaten severely. They had lost all self-control. It was a riot. Police in black uniform with their transparent shields and visors marched towards them in rigid formation. Instructions were given through loud speakers and then the tear gas was unleashed. Black security bots pounded the pavement, adding to the terror, fear and anger._

_One man stood in the shadows, watching the mob with increasing incense. A volcanic rumble emanated from his chest, all the pent up discontent emerging in an animalistic snarl. The mob’s mindless violence was infectious. There was something he could do, squash the humans like the bugs they were._

_Metal merged with flesh, transforming into Adam’s distinguishable black arms. Instead of his blades, his arms were now semi-automatic weapons. Stepping out into the crowd, he opened fire, mind split in two. Part of him watched in horror at what he was doing, the other part that was stronger, that he couldn’t control, watched in satisfaction as he shot civilians in the back as they ran away …_

Memory and dream fused and shifted. Adam rolled over in his sleep, trying to claw his way to the surface of consciousness, but in the way of dreams, he was submerged and dragged along against his will. His thoughts felt like they were immersed underwater, but he didn't quite have the presence of mind to swim through the murkiness and pull any to the surface.

 _Polymer trickled like liquid quicksilver to superimpose itself onto burnt, mangled flesh, putting him back together like a jigsaw_.

Adam pushed through a black curtain of fog which hung like sheer drapery in his mind, preventing that last push towards consciousness. His eyes snapped open, breath caught in his throat as he fought to stabilize himself in the world of reality. Rubbing a hand over his face, he took a deep breath.

The nightmare lingered like cobwebs in his consciousness. No matter what dream he had, it always came back to his Augs. The transformation he’d undergone was a recurring theme no matter the nightmare.

Rolling over, he sat up and sighed. Early morning sunlight peeked through his partially opened shutters like a flamboyant guest, not waiting for an invitation. Striped shadows fell across the floorboards, the warmth seeping into the room to disperse some of the chill lurking in the air.

A small icon appeared at the edge of his vision, informing him someone was trying to access his InfoLink. Adam was about to disconnect but didn’t get the opportunity before a familiar nasal voice crackled across the line.

“ _Jensen_.”

Tiredness pulled against his body as Adam threw back the covers. He’d just woken up and the last person he wanted to engage with was Pritchard. Especially without a dose of caffeine. Clenching his jaw, Adam stood up and stretched.

“It’s such a pleasure to hear your voice in the morning Francis,” Adam remarked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm laced in his tone.

Really, he couldn’t be held responsible for what he said before his morning coffee. Yawning, Adam pulled on his pants.

“ _I can tell you, the pleasure is not reciprocal. Sarif wants to see you in his office today. You know, that place which provides payment in exchange for your services. I know your apartment probably provides far more …_ stimulation _than your work environment but try to curtail some of those urges and get your ass into work_.”

Pritchard signed off just as a slew of curses spilled over Adam’s lips. Fucking Pritchard and his _insinuations_.

Opening the door, Adam walked out of his bedroom, eyes automatically straying to the arched windows. There she stood, shoulder propped against the windowpane, looking out on Detroit’s skyline.

Sunlight caught the lighter tones of Madison’s hair, bringing warmth from within the darker tones. Tilting her head, she dragged her eyes away from the view and allowed her gaze to settle on him. The movement caused shadows to crawl across her face, partially obscuring her expression. From this angle, Adam could detect very little green in her eyes. All he could see was wolfish amber eyes starting out at him from limpid pools of gold. Her almost predacious stillness appeared to corroborate this illusion.

Then Madison shifted around to face him and the artifice vanished like smoke on the air.

“Trouble at work?” she asked conversationally.

Adam blinked in confusion. Madison’s mouth twitched, but she didn’t allow a smile to escape.

“Sorry, I wasn’t listening deliberately. I overheard. The curse of sensitive hearing,” Madison shrugged, this time allowing a self-depreciating smile to hover over her lips.

“Right,” Adam replied, mainly for something to say.

Madison slept less than he did. In the last few days, whenever he got up, she was always standing against the rear window, looking out across the skyline as if it’d provide her with answers. To what questions he didn’t know.

Every time he walked out of his room, there was that tiny moment when he’d pause, felt his breath indrawn as he sought out her figure. Part of him expected Madison to leave, to take her new identity and disappear without a backward glance. She had every right of course. It was what she’d originally intended to do. And every time his eyes latched onto her now familiar figure in the darkened corner, he’d let out a small breath. Adam was unsure if it was relief he felt, and couldn’t place exactly why her absence would bother him. He was even less keen to trace the emotion to its source and figure out his thought process.

Regardless, they’d been circling each other like apex predators for the last few days, respectful but wary. The apartment felt like a cage, too small for both of them.

“I have to go into Sarif Industries today. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. Make yourself comfortable.”

Madison nodded. Adam hesitated, unsure what else to say. Waiting to hear from Quinn was wearing on both their patience. Eventually he shrugged, and walked into the kitchen to get some cereal. He felt her gaze burn into his back, contemplative. But when he looked over, she’d already turned around to stare out the window.

_/_I_/_

The streets of Detroit felt a slow burning fuse. The riots had been contained. _For now_. But people were directionless, looking to attach both meaning and blame to _someone_. And a random Aug in the street would do just fine. Regardless of their innocence or guilt, Augs had been merciless targeted.

Picus News never concentrated on the deaths of Augs. It was always the ‘naturals’ who were persecuted. Driving the divide between human and Augs even further than the damage Panchaea had inflicted. And those news stories were like an accelerant. All people needed was to strike a flint, cause another riot and the shadowy figures could watch in satisfaction as the world burnt. Whether that was their intention, Adam wasn’t sure. But every day he felt that same slow burning rage affecting the city. Only it was directed at the Illuminate.

Adam walked towards Sarif Industries, its normally bustling exterior noticeably empty. The glass from the front sliding doors had been cracked, leaving spider-webbed patterns across the once immaculate exterior. Adam swallowed his apprehension as his dream drifted to the forefront of his mind, wrapped around his thoughts and squeezed.

He let out a low rumble, forcibly pushing the nightmare back as he withdrew his keycard and swiped it over the RFID card reader. The keycard was an added precaution Sarif had installed after the riots. No one could enter the building without an RFID card reader.

Walking into the building, the habitually busy interior was noticeably subdued. The receptionist’s desk was absent; no one greeted visitors anymore. There was no need. Visitors couldn’t enter the building and any who did weren’t there for altruistic reasons, considering they’d have to force their way in.

The large front entrance felt hollow, empty now that so many staff had left. A few scientists still scurried around the subsequent floors, but they didn’t make eye contact and scuttled away like scared mice as soon as they came into contact with another human.

Adam sighed as he walked past his office. The interior was dark; he’d barely been inside for days. Pritchard’s office door was slightly open, the harsh fluorescents edging out into the darkened hallway. Stubbornly clinging to his job like a bur in a foot. And just like a bur, they’d likely have to pry Pritchard from his desk, draw blood before he could be extricated from Sarif Industries. He briefly considered entering Pritchard’s office but found he just didn’t have the mental energy to spar with the analyst.

Inputting the code to Sarif’s penthouse office, Adam tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator.

The door opened silently and Adam entered. Looking out the elevator window, Adam could almost feel the despondency in the air. Sarif Industries had always been a vibrant workplace, the ideas and advancements seemed to drift throughout the entire building, an intangible presence but felt by those who worked there nonetheless. Now, that energy was conspicuously absent, silenced by prejudice and hatred.

The elevator came to a smooth stop, the doors opened silently. The older receptionist was still there, like she’d been the last few decades. Athene met Adam’s gaze, gave a tight, forced smile before her eyes glanced at her computer screen.

“Mr. Sarif is waiting for you Adam.”

Adam nodded, unease stirring as his Social Enhancer picked up Athene’s elevated heart rate. Before her gaze skittered away, his C.A.S.I.E mod caught Athene’s pupillary response, which was decidedly unstable, contradicting the relaxed demeanor she was trying to project.

When Adam walked away from Athene and into Sarif’s office, his gaze lingered on the empty desk, before straying to the large windows. The window cast a checkerboard of sunlight onto the dark walnut floor. The rays cascaded past the lone man, penetrating into the darkest corners, attempting to illuminate the oppressiveness encompassing the room.

Sarif’s gilded vest glinted like spun gold as he turned. In his augmented hand, a pristine white baseball rolled against the silver palm, oddly hypnotic. As Sarif faced Adam, he ceased rolling the ball, instead gripped it hard like it was a lifeline.

Sarif gave him a quick smile, but it didn't reach his eyes, and Adam was struck by the marks of strain and tension clearly evident in his expression. Dark shadows lingered around his eyes and down the sides of his mouth, despite the bright sunlight slanting across his face.

“Adam,” Sarif said quietly, the deeper timbre of his voice catching slightly. “Thank you for coming in. I wanted to speak with you in person. This is something,” Sarif hesitated, the apparition of his normally confident bearing but a fleeting shadow before it disappeared. “Well, it’s something I wanted to discuss in person.”

Frowning, trepidation flickered like a broken torch as Adam stared guardedly at Sarif. His Social Enhancer picked up a surge of adrenaline in his Boss, peaked well beyond normal levels, and the epidermal monitor recorded a spike in temperature. Interesting.

“Have a seat,” Sarif instructed, waving a hand towards the chair opposite his desk, the customary command in his voice emerging without conscious thought.

As Adam sat in the chair, he tracked Sarif’s movements across the room. Carefully placing the baseball on a mantle, Sarif turned, his movements slow, as if he was pushing through sand. But it was only a momentary lapse, he squared his shoulders and made his way towards his desk.

Leaning back in the chair, Sarif crossed his legs and ran a hand down his trousers, deliberately avoiding eye contact. The moment lengthened, the seconds overlapping in the tension-laden space.

Sarif cleared his throat, a harsh sound which punctured the air, but Adam refused to acknowledge the shared moment of discomfort. After Panchaea, every interaction with his Boss felt somewhat confrontational. Sarif was used to authority, didn’t like when he felt challenged. And Adam found himself rebelling against Sarif’s commands more as time went on, felt it chafing at him like a collar.

If he’d ever detected a hint of remorse from Sarif for his role in augmenting Adam or his complicity in the attacks, it had been swept up in his usual bluster and tendency to shift blame onto others. The _only_ reason he was still with Sarif was because he needed his resources.

“Sarif Industries has been brought out by Tai Yong Medical,” Sarif declared.

The silence which fell in the wake of his declaration left a hollow echo in its place. Adam heard the words, but they needed to force their way through numbness assaulting his senses.

“We’re bankrupt,” Sarif continued when it became apparent that Adam wasn’t going to comment.

“They’ve successfully shut down our production lines. Our so-called leaders and their bureaucrats have drawn invisible lines around what it’s meant to be human. Anyone beyond those lines are by definition, persona non-grata,” Sarif sneered, his face a slowly cracking stone mask.

“When did this happen?” Adam asked, words clipped, almost combative.

The shock was slowly bleeding away, to be replaced with some other emotion Adam couldn’t quite place yet. Anger, relief, resentment. Probably all three.

Sarif sighed, the sound tinged with sadness. “Late last night. The Board met and it was out of my hands. Without our production line and with the restrictions imposed on augmentations, there wasn’t much of a choice.”

Adam used his fingers to tap a slow rhythm on the chair as he absorbed Sarif’s statement. His Boss’s skin was an unhealthy pallor, dark rings had smudged under his eyes and his posture was stiff, ready to snap at the slightest provocation.

“Why Tai Yong?” Adam asked, accusation lurking beneath his quiet tone.

Why indeed. Tai Yong Medical had been Sarif’s rival since the day their doors had opened. The large conglomerate held a monopoly on augmentations and didn’t like competition. When it became apparent that Sarif Industries was rivalling, if not surpassing, Tai Yong’s hold on the augmentation market, they approached Sarif with offers to amalgamate. Sarif always refused. While Tai Yong continued to have the dominant share in the market, their augmentations never attained the same level of refinement and dependability as Sarif’s high-grade augments.

When Tai Yong failed to entice Sarif with increasingly lurid offers of procurement, they undertook a different path. To remove Sarif Industries as their competitors, Tai Yong tried everything; from industrial espionage to publicly condemning Sarif Industries in the media with false accusations of underpaid staff, workplace accidents. All false of course, but the media loved sensationalism. The final blow was Tai Yong’s CEO Zhao, a member of the Illuminate, sanctioning the attack on Sarif Industries.

Tai Yong were like vultures, always circling, except now, like carrion-eaters, they were picking apart the bones of their prey. But what Adam found incensing was Sarif’s submission, after all these years of fighting he’d finally given up.

Sarif’s gaze latched onto Adam, expression carefully blank, but the heat in his eyes betrayed the anger he was trying to control. Sarif lifted his chin, defiance obvious in the tilt of his head.

“I didn’t have a choice Adam. I was overruled by the Board.”

A mirthless laugh crawled up his throat, but the artificial humor burned out before Adam could express it.

“Right. Must be infuriating having someone else decide important choices for you.”

The hidden barb coiled insidiously around them, tightening like a rope. Sarif’s face drained of the remaining color he had left in his cheeks.

His Boss’s eyes narrowed, the anger that was so close to the surface that Adam could practically see the emotion stretching across his skin to get out, manifested in his eyes like a layer of blue ice. In that moment, Adam knew instinctively their relationship, strained for months as both skirted around each for the sake of appearances, would be irrevocably changed by this exchange.

It was liberating in a way. No longer constrained by the shackles of his employment, Adam was _finally_ free to feel the anger he had every right to, but was denied because of a debt he owed. That debt was his life. Yes, Sarif had used augmentations to _save_ his life. But after everything that had happened this year, everything Adam had done in the name of Sarif Industries, he considered that debt paid.

The fluctuation between friend and employer was no more. No greyscale, only the polar extremes existed. That burning hard stare from Sarif would last only as long as it took him to think of the superlative justifications he could pontificate.

“Yeah, but _these_ choices,” Sarif remarked quietly, doing his best to keep his voice neutral but a sneer had edged behind the words, “aren’t for anyone’s betterment. It’s not about saving lives it’s about destroying them.”

“You never did get it Sarif. Your decision to augment me almost destroyed me. I was so close to spiralling, taking my own life. You may have saved my life the day of the attacks but you irrevocably changed it as well. You set me on this path. Gave me the tools I needed for an unsanctioned revenge crusade. You may have given me a reason to live, but only because you took that desire away in the first place. And you have never acknowledged that your decisions might have been wrong.”

Sarif launched himself from his chair, leaned over the desk and stabbed a finger at Adam.

“I won’t apologize. You may hate me Adam, and maybe that’s my cross to bear, but I won’t believe that saving a life is _ever_ a wrong decision.”

The only sound to be heard was Sarif’s heavy breathing as he glared at Adam. There was very little blue in his eyes, all Adam could see was the onyx black of his pupils blown wide, an endless depth of ink-stained sorrow and pain. Or maybe it was just a reflective surface of his own emotions.

At any second the spell would shatter. The cracks were already beginning to show in Sarif’s expression, slackening as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

“I built this company from nothing,” Sarif pronounced, sitting back in the chair, the air around him seeming to deflate like a balloon. “Do you really think I’d let my lifelong work slip away from me without a fight?”

Adam ground his teeth together but didn’t answer Sarif’s question immediately, just let the growing tension wrap around him until it neared its tipping point. Adam sat forward, flicked his glasses back and let his gaze drill into Sarif’s with unrestrained hostility.

“And who did you allow it to slip away to? Tai Yong. You know their role in last year’s attacks. Know they’re linked to the Illuminate. Just what do you think they’ll do with your Augs, with your _research_ ,” Adam demanded.

No sooner had he said the words then the two seemingly unrelated thoughts knit together in Adam’s mind.

“The research. Shit,” he cursed. “Madison’s blood. You _cannot_ allow Tai Yong to get their hands on it. Fucking hell Sarif, we assured her that her samples would stay within Sarif Industries.”

Sarif’s gaze skittered away, but not before Adam saw guilt staining his expression. Getting up, his ex-boss took a few quick steps away from the desk, rubbing a hand agitatedly over the back of his neck.

“What did you do Sarif?” Adam asked, careful emphasis on each word as seeds of doubt spread dark roots in his mind.

Sarif whipped back around, anger sketched across his face as his eyes narrowed. “I didn’t _do_ anything Adam. What the fuck do you think of me?”

Wiseley, Adam bit his tongue and didn’t latch on to the obvious opening. Spinning on his heel, Sarif turned towards him slightly but didn’t make eye contact. Adam waited for Sarif to say something, tension crawling across his body as the silence grew heavy and stifling, leeching all the oxygen from the room.

“That’s the other reason I wanted to talk to you.”

Plunging his hands into his vest, Sarif shook his head in resignation and met Adam’s eyes. A cloak of agitated lay over him, obvious in the deep frown which had settled over his eyes, and the intermitted flexing of his jaw.

“Megan’s gone. She hasn’t been at work for three days. Madison’s samples …  Megan ... took them. They’re not in the system, there’s no trace,” Sarif admitted.

Adam was up and standing in front of Sarif before he registered that his brain had sent the command. Flinching, Sarif took a step back as Adam towered over his old boss, fury igniting like a flint to strike a flame of anger through his body. He felt the heat of it, difficult to calm as he struggled to remain passive, not react violently like he wanted to.

“Where is Megan now?” Adam asked, heard the growl clip his words but didn’t care.

Sarif shook his head. “I don’t know. I sent someone to check today, but they reported that her apartment was empty. There’s no trace of her anywhere.”

“I promised Madison she’d be safe. I _told_ you Megan wasn’t to be trusted,” Adam insisted, the natural rasp of his voice slicing through Sarif as he flinched at his words.

Once again, Megan was fucking with his life, a spectral threat wavering in the background, likely to strike at any opportunity. Adam didn’t have the energy or the inclination to soothe Sarif’s bruised ego. And more importantly, he was no longer bound by whatever contractual obligation had been in place.

“I need to go.”

Titling his head, Sarif stared at Adam. There was something inscrutable in Sarif’s expression, a lingering incense which didn’t lift as his eyes travelled over Adam’s face.

“I didn’t expect Megan to do this,” Sarif admitted, lifting his shoulder in a half shrug.

Snorting, Adam felt his lip peel back into a sneer. “That’s the difference between us. I did.”

Adam turned without another word to walk out of the office but Sarif’s voice made him falter.

“Adam…” Sarif began, and he could hear the regret, the words which failed him in the silence which left a lonely echo.

Angling his head, Adam didn’t turn around because there was nothing for him to turn back for. He waited for Sarif to speak, but the silence between the words was far more poignant, a better indication of the regret and the remorse Sarif could never find it in himself to express.

Adam walked out of Sarif’s office, travelled in the elevator, walked the length of the lobby and opened the doors to the outside. He almost felt pushed by an indiscernible force, urging him to escape, to find his own way in the world.

_/_I_/_

Adam had just entered the lobby of his apartment building when his InfoLink informed him that he had an email notification waiting for him on his home computer. Actually, now that he thought about it, the building probably belonged to Tai Yong Medical. A mirthless chuckle lodged in his throat but he swallowed it down, not liking the taste of it.

Ignoring the notification, he rode the elevator up to his apartment, the realization that he was effectively homeless and unemployed made him feel disconcertingly indifferent. Maybe the shock hadn’t worn off yet or maybe he just didn’t care anymore. Liberation came with a strange apathy, or maybe relief. Either way, he liked this feeling of newfound freedom. Jobless and homeless he may be, but never directionless.

Opening the door to his apartment, he walked into his living room to see Madison on his couch, watching the TV. She looked over to him, eyebrows raised slightly. She’d obvious heard him well before he entered the apartment because she showed no surprise or tension at his entrance. Adam wondered just how acute her senses were. Madison obviously had phenomenal hearing, she’d proven that repeatedly.

Sighing quietly, he walked into his kitchen and poured a large glass or whatever dark spirits he got his hand on first. He’d been so busy thinking about his conversation with Sarif and what he’d do next, that he’d pushed Megan’s betrayal to the back of his mind. Now he had to tell Madison and he had no idea how she’d react.

“Do you want a drink?” Adam asked as he lifted his own glass, the liquid swishing around like a roiling amber sea.

Shooting a quick glance at the clock, a small smile curved her lips. “Little early for me.”

Adam grunted. Nowhere in the world was it too early for him to partake in any alcoholic beverage, especially considering the news he was about to impart. Swallowing the contents of the glass, Adam placed the tumbler on the counter and walked around to sit on the sofa on Madison’s right.

Leaning over, he grabbed the cigarette and lighter. On the first drawl, Adam savored the gritty texture of the nicotine in his mouth. The television droned in the background, meaningless chatter as Adam enjoyed the burn of the cigarette. He was aware of Madison shooting him glances but Adam was determined to sit with the knowledge of what he’d allowed to happen for as long as possible.

“Do I have to read your smoke signals or are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Madison asked as a small, sardonic smile flirted with the corner of her mouth.

She flicked the television off and turned to stare at him, eyebrow quirked expectantly.

Adam stared at the cigarette between his fingers. It was almost short enough to burn him if he’d had any skin. With an effort, he leaned forward to crush it out.

“I’m out of a job,” Adam replied, blowing out the last of the smoke, a wistful cloud which dissipated quickly.

“You were fired?”

A guttural sound resembling a laugh escaped as Adam shook his head.

“No, but thanks for the vote of confidence. Sarif Industries is bankrupt, we were brought out by Tai Young Medical last night.”

Madison’s lip curled in distaste. “Tai Yong; the poster child for poor quality augmentations and a twenty five percent fail rate.”

Adam snorted his amusement as Madison inadvertently voiced his own thoughts about the company.

“What are you going to do now?” Madison asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

Flicking back his glasses, Adam leant forward in the chair. “Listen, there’s something you need to know.”

Immediately, Adam noticed the change in Madison. She hadn’t moved, her posture was still deceptively relaxed, but he sensed the tension in her like static electricity. It crawled across his skin, a tingling awareness.

“The Doctor who took your blood, Megan Reed, she’s disappeared. And … I’m sorry, she’s taken your samples. There’s no record in our system. I don’t know where she’s gone.”

Adam caught the barest flicker of a reaction in Madison’s eyes, extinguished almost immediately as her expression shuttered closed, utterly devoid of anything resembling emotion.

“I need to leave.”

If Adam had anticipated some type of emotional response from Madison, she was keeping it from him. In truth, Adam expected a reprimanded for being so negligent as to allow one of Sarif’s scientists to steal her samples. Outwardly calm, Adam suspected fear and a seething fury was churning just beneath the surface.

“I know,” Adam sighed. “But, I just received an email notification on my InfoLink. I think Quinn has finally gotten back to me. Just stay long enough to check out what he’s got to say and you can plan your move after.”

Madison hesitated, jaw clenched tightly as she considered her options.

“Okay,” she said eventually.

Adam got up and walked into his bedroom. Madison followed him, hovering in the doorway as he booted his computer.

The quiet whirring of the computer floated languidly around the room, lapping at the air despite the coalescing strain which nipped like a cold winter morning. Logging on to his email account, Adam read the message and swore under his breath. Moving his chair away, Adam let Madison read the email. Her eyes darted quickly over the screen, in less than five seconds she’d absorbed the contents. Adam supposed he could add ‘speed reader’ to her list of skills.

Looking back, Adam read the email again.

 _Bratan_ ,

_I hear you’ve been looking for me. I knew you’d come around to accepting my help eventually._

_As to your request for a meeting …. My associates have been searching for Doctor Kavanagh for some time. We’re pleased to know you’ve found her. I’m in Detroit for a brief time. Bring Kavanagh and her research with you. We need to meet today. The address is in the encrypted file I’ve attached. This email has been designed to self-delete ten minutes after opening. I’ll see you soon._

_Quinn_

Adam opened the file and memorized the address.

“You didn’t tell this guy that Kavanagh was dead.”

Adam shook his head in the negative. “No. I wasn’t sure he’d agree to meet if he knew. This might be a lead for you. The only one you have, and I know how important this is for you.”

Stepping away from the desk, Madison crossed her arms and appraised him. He knew he sounded like a manipulating, callous bastard after admitting to ‘censoring’ the information. Adam wasn’t sure whether the tenuous trust they’d established had been frayed by the day’s events.

“Thank you,” Madison said.

Her words beat at the quiet, heavy with implication. If Adam expected Madison to have some measure of aversion to his shaded half-truths, there was none. He could see it in her normally guarded expression; she understood that the world operated in shades of grey, the truth told in measures, sometimes for the benefit, other times for the detriment.

The computer beeping at him had Adam jerking back towards the monitor. Just as Quinn had promised, the email was disintegrating before his eyes. Whatever virus had been installed was slowly eating away at the email until nothing was left but his original inbox folder.

“Impressive,” Madison remarked.

Adam grunted, not as captivated by the Juggernaut Collective’s little computer tricks. It meant he had no way of contacting Quinn.

“The address they gave you, do you know where it is?”

Turning in his chair, Adam nodded. “Yeah, I know the area. I’m pretty sure it’s an apartment building. But it’s condemned, scheduled to be demolished in a few weeks.”

Leaning her hip against the outer edge of the desk, Madison crossed her arms and drummed her fingers against her skin.

“Why pick that building, why not somewhere more public? Just means there’s plenty of opportunities for an ambush. Do you trust this guy?”

Letting out a slow breath, Adam gave a small shrug. “I wouldn’t use the word trust. But there’s no reason to suspect he’d set up the meeting so he could harm me. He helped me when I was at Rifleman Bank Station. I might not have escaped the facility without Quinn’s assistance.”

After Kavanagh’s death, Madison had questioned him about his reasons for being at the Belltower facility. While Adam was selective about some of the information, he’d explained about his search for the scientists after the attack on Sarif Industries, which eventually led him to Rifleman Bank. Under normal circumstances, Adam would not have divulged any information about his time on the base, preferring to keep those who knew about his involvement to a select few. But Adam believed that Madison needed to know about Savage’s other illegal project. If anyone deserved closure after what they’d been through, it was Madison.

“Okay. The meeting’s in two hours. I guess rescheduling is out of the question,” Madison pointed towards the now blank email screen.

Adam snorted, similarly unimpressed. He wondered if Quinn would have any answers, or if this was another false trail.

_/_I_/_

The silent, almost grim desolation of the condemned apartment building was a curious and striking contrast to the baked haze of afternoon sunlight shining from behind the building like a beacon of hope. It was a mirage, the bright spark from the sun couldn’t fool an onlooker for long. Upon closer inspection, it was difficult to overlook the neglect. Random hairline cracks covered the concrete structure like an intricate spiderweb, while chalky paint fell in fragments. The wood on the windowpanes had rotted, stained with lichen while the curtains inside hung limp and moth-eaten, fluttering in the slight wind from the broken glass. But even in its decrepitude, the old building felt like a time-warp of long forgotten times, living on in the memories of those who had found happier times within.

Despite the apartment building being cordoned off by the authorities and proclaimed uninhabitable, there were still people residing inside the building. According to the heat signatures he’d detected, there were at least a dozen people inside the building. Adam ground his teeth together, the knowledge of civilians inside the building making him uneasy. He didn’t expect this meeting to be a set-up, but he’d have rather met in a place without other people around. Especially with what they were discussing.

Stepping lightly up the stairs, Adam looked back at Madison. She had her back to him, was staring down the street, tension manifesting in her stillness.

“What’s wrong?”

Madison snapped her gaze to his face, a shadow of anxiety passing across her expression. She shook her head, shrugged too casually.

“Nothing,” she replied.

Adam felt the lie snap like a bowstring. He ignored Madison for the moment, instead activated his Retinal Scanner in advanced mode, using the Environment Parsing interface.

When activated, his Retinal Enhancement triggered a predictive algorithm which mapped his environment, automatically seeking out and tagging situational dangers. He was cued in to potential hazards both neutral and hostile, which could pose a threat. His optical radar scanned and revealed any human presence through a combination of visual, thermal and motion detection, while also analyzing patterns in movements and behaviors. Since weapons like guns and grenades were made of certain metallic alloys, his Radar also searched for those compounds, identifying any as potentially threatening. All of this data was collected within seconds and fed back to him through his visual cortex, evaluating the raw data and processing it into relevant information he could use.

But nothing in the street was tagged as potentially hostile. His Radar only provided a few hazardous materials, which he dismissed immediately after viewing the results. Still, the vague feeling of unease plagued him. Whether he was feeding off Madison’s anxiety, Adam wasn’t sure.

“Did you see something?” Adam asked, letting his voice drop to a lower register, enough for Madison to know he wanted an honest answer.

Madison fixed him with a hard stare, a challenge lurking beneath her green eyes, as if she felt constantly threatened by everyone around her.

“No,” she reiterated. “It’s … just a feeling of being watched. Nothing substantial.”

Adam felt the same awareness, a trickle down his spine, an instinct he’d learnt never to ignore. Taking a final look around, he looked down at Madison.

“Do you still want to go in?” Adam asked, jerking his head back toward the door.

Madison’s expression hardened. “Of course.”

A smile tugged on his lips. Adam thought as much.

The rotting wooden door creaked slowly open and their echoing footsteps invaded the silence that hung like a shawl around the building. A thick carpet of dust clung to every object, the rays of light shining through the opened door caught on the particles suspended in the stagnant air.

They walked through the battered skeleton of the dead apartment building, alert, ready to act at the slightest provocation.

Most of the apartment doors were boarded up, the new wood nailed across the frames out of place amid the darker, rotted cedar. The place felt still, heavy with expectation and foreboding as the carpeted floor on the staircases absorbed their footfalls.

Adam continued to climb the stairs until he reached their destination on the sixth floor. He heard the distinctive sound of the safety being snapped off, and turned around to watch Madison eject the mag, check the ammo and clip it in place.  Adam triggered the nerve impulse to release his blade, and felt the now familiar surge of satisfaction as it slid from his wrist.

Activating his visual enhancement, Adam scanned the apartments on both sides. He only detected one signature. Walking cautiously down the corridor, Adam approached the door marked 610. Using the universal hand signals devised by the Armed Forces, Adam communicated his plan with Madison.

The golden strands in her eyes seemed to look through the dark recesses that was usually hidden behind an expressionless mask. Her feline features somehow matched her personality – silent, alert, deadly. Sometimes the two colors appeared to swirl together like rich sunlight creeping over moss.

“Bratan,” a familiar voice called, muffled through the door.

Adam relaxed slightly, reached out and opened the door. The planks of wood which had been nailed to the door had been pulled away and dumped on the floor. Madison, having obviously seen the slight release of tension in his body, lowered her gun but didn’t put it away. He stepped into the apartment first, sought out Quinn’s figure in the middle of the almost empty living room.

His gaze lingered on Quinn’s face, spotting the unique circular pattern of the dermal markers of his neural implants. Once he’d affirmed it was Quinn, Adam raked his gaze over the surroundings, automatically marking exits, mapping out the details of the room – tipped over TV unit, frayed sofa, bunched rug. All were noted as potential hazards, or weapons, depending on how the meeting progressed.

Quinn’s slick smile faltered slightly as Adam purposefully raised his arm and retracted his blade. It was a deliberate action, a reminder to Quinn that Adam didn’t trust him. A prompt for Quinn to remember that Adam wasn’t above using physical persuasion.

The nervous smile playing around Quinn’s lips vanished when Madison walked into the room behind Adam. The almost opaque color of Quinn’s retinal enhancement rotated quickly as his narrowed gaze lingered on the weapon held loosely in Madison’s grip.

The corner of Madison’s mouth twitched, but the movement was so brief, it was difficult to tell whether she'd smiled or sneered at the shift in Quinn’s cocky attitude. Thumbing the safety back on her gun, she placed it in the holster on her thigh.

Coming to stand off to his left, Adam glanced sharply at Madison while keeping a wary eye on Quinn. Her projected indifferent demeanor was at odds with the charged, tense energy pulsating from her. Her eyes kept straying to a spot past Quinn.

“Who’s this old friend?” Quinn asked, motioning towards Madison.

Adam dragged his gaze away from Madison, opened his mouth to respond, but didn’t get the opportunity before Madison reacted. She moved so fast it felt like he'd missed entire frames in a film reel.

From her standing position she gave no sign that she was about to attack. She merely launched herself, a blur in the corner of his eye as she tore towards Quinn. Adam had no time to stop her, no time to react than shout a belated warning at Quinn, who’s face morphed from smug self-assuredness into an open-mothed astonishment tinged with fear.

In a corner of Adam’s mind, the place where thoughts were processed unhurriedly while his body acted unconsciously, he marvelled at Madison’s speed. He knew she was fast, but to see her react, it was like watching a lioness take down prey. What his vision could actually process, to most without a reflex booster she’d be but a distortion in their vision.

Instead of attacking Quinn, as Adam thought had been her target, she shifted course slightly at the last minute, and launched at what Adam thought was some kind of spectral demon her traumatized mind had imagined, because he couldn’t see what the fuck she was aiming for.

Madison’s hand shot out and wrapped around something. Only then did Adam see the distorted disturbance in the air, the result of a Glass Shield cloaking system. The shimmering effect of a person appearing from invisibility was striking. The cloak dropped instantly, revealing a coffee-skinned woman. Adam had no time to discern features before she was slammed expertly to the ground, Madison wrenching the woman’s arm around behind her, while settling her knee on the stranger’s  back.

The air continued to crackle dangerously around Madison, unwilling to disperse the brutal energy which had briefly irradiated the lifeless space.

He might need to talk to Madison about socially acceptable behavior, but considering the fact that some unknown woman thought it was acceptable to hide while they talked, Adam could forgive Madison’s actions.

_/_I_/_

“Didn’t your Mother teach you it was rude to eavesdrops?” Madison asked mock pleasantly to the woman struggling ineffectually underneath her.

“Get the fuck off me,” she growled, bucking wildly, but against Madison’s nano-enhanced body, she had no hope of overthrowing her.

The woman’s accent was America, but with definite tinges of a Spanish inflection, more pronounced as she became increasingly agitated.

Out the corner of her eye, Madison noticed Quinn move. She had no idea if he was going for a weapon, but she wouldn’t give him the opportunity. Wrapping her hand around the woman’s wrist to keep her pinned, Madison withdrew her Glock and pointed it at Quinn.

Fear flashed across Quinn’s face, before his expression mutated into passive indifference. He held his hands up in the air, and even had the audacity to allow an amused smirk to crawl over his face. Madison kept her gun trained on Quinn, glanced quickly down at Vega and allowed her optical augmentation to scan the woman.

                _Neural_ : InfoLink, Social Enhancer

 _Physical_ : Glass shield cloaking. Sentinel RX Health System. Reflex Booster.

 

Madison noticed the sidearm on the woman’s hip and allowed her optics to scan the weapon even though she recognized the type from the distinctively large, squat black handle.

 _Weapon_ : Diamond Back Revolver

 _Ammunition_ : Heavyweight .357 magnum special explosive rounds

 _Rate of fire_ :  0.65. Slow re-load speed

 _Manufacturer_ : Mustang Arms Ad-Tech Ltd

 

“Who’s this?” Adam demanded of Quinn, the whip of a command in his voice.

Madison glanced up at Adam, who was starting at Quinn in undisguised irritation.

“The young lady your also unidentified friend is holding, her name is Alex Vega,” Quinn proclaimed, the harsher tones of his native European accent scraping past the softer vowels. “She’s Juggernaut and here to assist me.”

“Now,” Quinn began switching effortlessly between his Russian accent and into a very convincing Irish brogue, “who may I ask is this firecracker?”

He grinned at Madison, who was faintly startled by Quinn’s different affectation.

Madison allowed her optics to run a quick scan on Quinn but, surprisingly, he wasn’t armed. He had an impressive array of neural augmentations, including an advanced version of the C.A.S.I.E implant.

Thinking it pointless to have a conversation while the woman, Vega, had her head stuffed into the filthy carpet, Madison released her grip slightly. Activating the Tracking Augmentation in her cyber-optics, an icon blinked into existence on Madison’s retinal display.

The Tracking Aug was basically an electromagnetic field interpreter which made it possible for her to track enemies that weren’t in her line of sight. Since molecules in the human body interacted, albeit weakly, with electromagnetic fields, the components in her retinal scanner acted as a type of antenna, tracking those electromagnetic signatures. It was useful when she needed to split her focus between multiple targets.

Flipping open the woman’s holster, Madison withdrew the revolver and stepped off. Holstering her own weapon, Madison backed away, keeping a wary eye Quinn until she stood next to Adam again. Snarling quietly, Vega rose to her feet and glared at her.

Now that Madison wasn’t staring at the back of Vega’s head, she raked an appraising gaze over the other woman. Vega was slightly shorter than Madison, attractive, with blonde striped highlights in her hair. Her brown eyes, the color of unvarnished oak with deep mahogany flecks, sparked with indignation.

“Who the fuck are you?” Vega asked, adrenaline making her voice clipped and slightly breathless.

Hesitating, Madison shot a quick look in Adam’s direction. He started back at her, his normal implacable expression fixed firmly in place. Guess this was her call to make. Madison wasn’t sure about revealing her identity, but if she wanted information and help from these people, they’d be more likely to assist if they didn’t have to refer to Madison as ‘the woman who attacked us’.

Maybe attacking one of the Juggernaut’s operatives wasn’t the best start to a relationship. But Madison hadn’t liked the then unknown person hiding in the corner, listening in on their conversation. While Vega’s Glass Shield Cloaking Device was activated, it was difficult for any type of optical augmentation to see it.

But Madison didn’t need to _see_ Vega. As soon as she’d entered the room she’d heard two distinct sets of heartbeats. All she’d need to do was follow the sound of the heartbeat. It had taken months to train her senses, hone them to something she could use. If there was something positive she could take from her forced captivity, it was the knowledge that her senses were enhanced well beyond normal human capacity.

So maybe playing nice might atone for her rather violent introduction to the pair.

“Madison,” she introduced herself.

Quinn gave her another smug grin. “Pleased to meet’cha.”

“And why are you here?” Vega asked bluntly. “Where’s Doctor Kavanagh?”

Vega gave Madison a final glare before settling her gaze on Adam.

Adam took a quick intake of breath. “Doctor Kavanagh is dead. When I went to extract her, a Belltower squad arrived. She was killed by a drone. I’m sorry.”

Vega let out a string of expletives that would've had nuns using their headscarves as ear muffs.

“You didn’t mention that in your email Bratan,” Quinn said, an edge in his voice under the apparent nonchalance.

“Guess we both dislike surprises,” Adam commented as he cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at Vega.

“Kavanagh had the Rifleman Bank Station data. What are were going to use to expose Belltower now?” Vega asked, turning to face Quinn.

Retrieving Kavanagh’s damaged hard drive from inside his jacket, Adam held the innocuous object up. Vega turned back to face Adam, gaze straying to the drive, eyes narrowed in conjecture.

Pritchard had removed any traces of Project Proteus from the drive, and was still trying to decipher the file. The metadata was missing, so Madison held little hope of recovering any usable data. And she certainly didn’t want the Juggernaut knowing about Proteus.

“I believe we can help with that.”

“Is that Kavanagh’s….” Vega trailed off.

“Evidence,” Adam finished for her, a shadow of a smile touching his lips. “Correct. As you can see it was damaged but we’ve managed to recover some usable information.”

A frown slipped over Vega’s face as her eyes lingered on the drive before they swept speculatively towards Madison.

“We’re still no wiser about who _you_ are and your involvement in this,” Vega remarked, clearly still stinging from their abrupt introduction.

Looking over at her, Adam raised his eyebrows. They’d discussed their approach earlier. She’d have to provide some background, albeit censored, about herself if she were to convince Quinn to use Juggernaut resources to find Savage. Madison inclined her head, giving permission for Adam to speak for her.

“Madison is tracking Doctor Gary Savage.”

Quinn quirked an eyebrow. “Doctor Kavanagh’s partner from Rifleman Bank? Why?” he asked, switching back to his Russian accent.

Madison just wished he’d pick an accent and stick with it. It was disconcerting, but she thought that might just be the point.

Training his gaze on Madison, she felt the full force of Quinn’s personality. Despite his jovial demeanor, there was a consideration he assigned to each sentence which denoted a keen intelligence he hid very well.

Activating her C.A.S.I.E implant, Madison allowed the augmentation to regulate her system, controlling galvanic skin response, oxygen consumption, micro-expressions, pupil dilation, voice deviation. Basically any physical symptom which might reveal she was being dishonest.

“We’ve been tracking Savage for a while. Rifleman Bank wasn’t the only time he was involved in illegal experimentation.”

“Who’s we,” Vegas asked suspiciously.

“Army Black Ops.”

It was a slight deviation from the truth. Madison _had_ been Black Ops, and she _was_ tracking Savage. Just without the Military’s knowledge.

“That’s where the Juggernaut comes in,” Adam interjected as the two agents absorbed her explanation. “I’ll hand over this drive in exchange for information about Savage. Maybe you could use those impressive hacking skills and try to find him,” he remarked dryly.

Adam held up his hand as Quinn opened his mouth. “And don’t tell me you don’t have a file on Savage,” he pre-empted, “I won’t believe you and you won’t get your hands on this drive.”

When Quinn tilted his head slightly, Madison watched his eyes become unfocused, lips moving almost imperceptively as he began a sub-vocalized conversation on his InfoLink.

“I have someone who needs to sign off on this deal,” Quinn commented distractedly as he removed a tablet from his jacket.

Placing the tablet on the upturned TV unit, Quinn switched it on. Madison shifted restlessly on her feet, not liking a third party being clued in to her mission.

Quinn stepped back and swept his arm out in a slightly mocking gesture. “I’d like you to meet Janus, our all-knowing leader.”

Vega rolled her eyes.

“ _You’ll have to forgive Quinn. His dedication to our cause is often misrepresented as overzealousness_.”

The voice was toneless, flat-lined into a low resonant machine timbre that was hollowly anonymous. Madison brows shot up as a face appeared on the tablet’s screen, but without any expression, just a ghostly outline.

“ _And nobody leads the Juggernaut Collective; we are just different individuals working in partnership for the same ideals_.”

“How very cultish,” Madison muttered.

She was ‘underwhelmed’ with the Juggernaut Collective. All they seemed to achieve was anarchy, holding themselves together with lofty ideals of saving the world from itself. She wasn’t denying their skill, but they channelled their talent in the wrong direction, making others sneer rather than take them seriously.

“You must be Janus,” Adam observed, sounding similarly unimpressed.

“ _Correct Adam Jensen_.”

Despite the distorted image and the lack of anything resembling facial features, Madison felt Janus’s attention shift to Adam.

“ _Quinn has informed me that you propose an exchange for Doctor Kavanagh’s evidence_. _I was sorry to hear about the Doctor’s demise. We had hoped to locate her after she escaped the Belltower facility.”_

Adam shot Quinn an unimpressed look. “How do you know about Kavanagh’s death? Unless you have access to Quinn’s InfoLink and have been watching us like some kind of Peeking Tom the whole time.”

“ _I apologize for the deception. Communication in this open arena is dangerous. I’ve taken certain precautions. Currently I’m scrambling my signal using a rolling I.P. It’s difficult to track but not impossible. It’s far less hazardous for me tap into Quinn’s InfoLink_.”

Adam grunted noncommittedly. “So if Kavanagh’s evidence was so important, why didn’t track her down?”

“We tried,” Vega exclaimed, an angry edge to her voice. “The Doctor went dark after she escaped Rifleman Bank Station. Juggernaut tried looking for her, we had agents out, feelers, hackers combing through facial recognition footage. The only reason we knew she was alive was when you contacted us. Good job on bringing her back alive by the way.”

“ _Alex,_ ” Janus admonished.

Adam curled his lips back, the sneer hovering over his mouth turning instantly into a vicious snarl. “If it wasn’t for me, Kavanagh wouldn’t have escaped the facility at all. Her death is just as much the result of the Juggernaut’s ineptitude as it is mine.”

“ _I take responsibility for Doctor Kavanagh’s death. You are correct Mr. Jensen, we failed her. Despite our resources and wherewithal we were unable to locate her in time to save her. But even in death her life can have meaning. That evidence is crucial to exposing Belltower’s reprehensible abuse of power. You’ve requested an exchange of information. Interestingly, you want information on Gary Savage. But I can deduce this information is not for you_. _Am I correct in presuming that your mysterious ally requires knowledge of Gary Savage’s location?”_

Janus’s voice, modulated across the connection, sounded deeper, the nuances distinguishable despite the mono-tonal speech.

“ _Correct me if I am wrong Lieutenant Turner_.”

Fear stuck in Madison’s throat, scattering the unspoken words of her response. She opened her mouth to speak, but the dryness etched into her throat made the words stick like glue and come out more like a dry rasp.

“How do you know my name?”

“ _It would be remiss of me to expose myself to an unknown factor. During our conversation I have been researching you_.”

A chill went through her as she battled an almost overwhelming urge to flee. Madison tasted that fear, a bitter essence on her tongue as she took a small step back. Adam reached out, about to touch her, but Madison flinched instinctively. Adam withdrew his hand, but not before she saw a brief flash of disappointment. She wasn’t recoiling from him, not really, but she could understand why he’d think so. If Adam could only understand what Baldwin subjected her to, he’d understand this overpowering fear whenever the omnipresent idea of captured was triggered.

And despite what Adam had told her about Reed’s deceit, Madison didn’t actually blame him. From the brief contact she had with Reed, it was obvious she was a calculating, manipulative individual. Retrospectively, Madison realized she probably should have refused to provide Reed with samples, but fear had been a motivating factor during that period, clouding her judgement. Madison doubted anyone couldn’t have predicted Reed would steal her samples, so she had no reason to believe Adam had any more insight into Reed’s motivations.

“ _Forgive my intrusion into your personal life Lieutenant,”_ Janus intoned, interrupting her thoughts _. “You must understand, powerful people seek the Juggernaut’s destruction. I needed to assure myself that you were trustworthy enough for me to expose myself_.”

Adam gave her a lingering look, his clenched jaw making his already angular face appear sharper.

“ _This highly specialized Black Ops Augmentation Division you referred to, there’s almost no record of their activities. Even for Special Operations this is unusual. But despite your earlier allusions, you are no longer an active member of this unit. In fact, from what I can see here, you are wanted for desertion. And the Army Police want your whereabouts in regards to a murder investigation_.”

Janus’s distorted voice continued with minimal inflection, unaware or uncaring that his words felt like they were tearing away the skin from her body, exposing her secrets. But Janus hadn’t said anything about nano-tech, or Baldwin. Those secrets would be buried deep, Baldwin would make sure of it.

The two Juggernaut agents eyed her warily. Uttering a low sigh that sounded more like a threatening growl, Adam turned back towards the tablet.

“Congratulations, you’ve used your impressive repertoire of hacking skills to dig into Military files to extract Madison’s history. I fail to see how this is relevant.”

“ _I dislike secrets Mr. Jensen_.”

Madison let out a scathing scoff, unable to let this hypocritical viewpoint stand unchallenged. “That’s a bit rich isn’t it? Coming from a guy who hides his identity behind a computer. Besides, you’ve now exposed yourself to a wanted criminal. Your threat assessment skills need some work.”

The shimmering expressionless face inclined its head. “ _I am aware of the irony, but I am not being deliberately duplicitous. And despite the quick perusal of your file, I don’t believe you are a criminal. In fact, I think there’s more to you than meets the eye Lieutenant. But that’s for another day. We are striving towards the same goal. To bring those who abuse their power to justice. The man you are seeking, Doctor Savage, is someone we have been watching closely_.”

“Why?” Madison asked, interested despite the anger still scratching unpleasantly against her senses.

She chose to ignore Janus’s other cryptic comments.

“ _Before we proceed. Mr. Jensen, do you agree to provide us with the drive in exchange for this information_?”

Adam looked over at her, no hint of what he was thinking on that famously blank expression he’d cultivated into an art form. Madison imagined that her C.A.S.I.E implant had long since stopped being effective. Carved across her face, her feelings were an open canvas for all to see.

“If you provide viable information, then yes.”

The image on the screen was silently tranquil despite the fact that Adam made no assurances that he would hand over the drive. Madison didn’t believe that Janus wasn’t astute enough to grasp this addendum.

“ _Lieutenant Turner, before I continue, are you aware of what occurred at Rifleman Bank Station_?

She nodded.

“ _We are concerned about who Savage is working for. You know of Robert Page, Founder of Page Industries and CEO of VersaLife_?”

Adam nodded impatiently. “Of course.”

 “ _We know, but cannot prove, that Page is Illuminate. This secret society is dedicated to the domination of all civilized institutions. The Illuminati influence the world from afar. Most of their members are enormously wealthy, holding positions of power within the government and influential organizations. They gather important scientists like some kind of anomalous collection of human beings and whisper in the ears of influential political leaders. They see themselves as the overseers of humanity, believing that society is unable to function without their intervention_.”

Sighing, Adam said, “As fascinating as this all is what does this have to do with Savage?”

“ _We believe that Page has recruited Doctor Savage. This is of particular concern for us because Doctor Savage is brilliant but lacking in conscience. Take his involvement in the Hyron project. Without his contribution, we doubt the Hyron project could have got off the ground_. _We have been tracking Savage since he left Rifleman Bank Station. But Page has gone to great lengths to keep Savage’s movements concealed. This in itself is telling. Why deliberately hide a man if what he is doing isn’t worth concealing? Despite our best efforts, we are unsure of Savage’s precise location_.”

A small sound of annoyance escaped Madison’s throat. “So despite your _claims_ , you don’t really know where he is.”

“ _His current location? We are unsure. The last place we tracked Savage to was a Military research facility_.”

Madison’s head shot up, trepidation shearing through her like frozen stalactites. She made an involuntary sound, too abrasively dry to be any kind of laugh. It couldn’t be this easy right? Finding the facility she’d been detained in without any challenges. She felt Adam’s attention shift to her, that watchful, sharply curious gaze digging into her, trying to peel back the layers she wore around her like armor, shielding any vulnerabilities.

“ _We believe that Savage is involved with producing the new anti-rejection drug, Riezene. As you both are no doubt aware, the new regulations for distribution of Neuropozyne has meant that thousands of people are experiencing rejection syndrome and are dying because they don’t have access to it. This new drug, Riezene is cheaper to create and distribute and will help with the shortages_.”

Adam snorted, the sound undulating as it was caught up in the faint breeze whispering from the broken window.

“I sense a postscript to this conversation. The real reason you’ve _exposed_ yourself,” he said, deliberate sneering emphasis on exposed.

The faceless avatar floated languidly on the screen, staring almost pensively at Adam.

“ _A perceptive observation Mr. Jensen. The new drug, Riezene, it’s not safe. VersaLife has ensured, through strict regulations, that they are the only company able to produce the anti-rejection drug. But due to the dire shortage of Neuropozyne, a pharmaceutical company called Zaaphire Biotech created Riezene as a cheaper alternative. Up until a week ago, we believed that Zaaphire was a lone company, looking to capitalize on the drug shortages. Through weeks of digging, our hackers have discovered that Zaaphire is actually owned by VersaLife. We have been unable to discern the reasons behind VersaLife’s deliberate concealment of their involvement with Zaaphire. But Riezene is not safe. A LIMB clinic in Panama City refused to distribute the drug, citing reports of Riezene having adverse effects on patients. There have even been unsubstantiated reports of patients dying from the drug. Some of our agents, including Alex, attempted to produce evidence of the drug’s harmful effects but we have been unsuccessful.”_

Madison felt an instant burst of ice-cold clarity, like a strobe light illuminating a darkened room full of glittering diamonds.

“That’s why you wanted a meeting. You need someone to infiltrate this base. Get evidence that this new drug is harmful to the public,” she surmised.

The air seemed taught, as though a breath had been drawn in and held, the seconds overlapping poignantly. Adam slowly turned his head towards Quinn, staring at him wordlessly. The silence condensed, tipping over into something taciturn. She felt the heaviness of unspoken implications as Adam gazed darkly at the Juggernaut agent. She couldn’t quite read his expression, tipping between irritation and incredulous amusement.

“I’m not sure if you’re blissfully unaware of your own hypocrisy or if you actually thrive on it. Pulling the strings of others from the shadows. Is that a familiar edict?” Adam asked, drilling Quinn with a glare.

Quinn shrugged. “No. No one is forcing to do anything _bratan_. We provide the facts, _you_ decide what to do after you have them.”

“ _Quinn is right Mr. Jensen. We are not the Illuminate, we do not seek to enslave the populous, we seek to free it. If that means pointing others in the right direction, giving them a gentle push, then that is what we will do. If you want to help us, we would be grateful. And so will thousands of other innocents who might meet their demise because of this drug_.”

As Adam stepped forward, the sallow light crawled across his face, sharpening the animosity carved in his expression. The dim light of the room made Adam seem even more imposing, the scant illumination working for rather than against him. 

Madison felt a similar vein of acrimony towards Janus’s obvious _persuasion_ techniques. She suspected Janus knew more about her than he was willing to impart. Especially since he was dangling Savage as bait. And now there was the added complication of this new drug. Could she in good conscience ignore what Janus was saying? Allow hundreds of people to die because she was too busy playing out her own vengeance crusade?

“Dress it up however you like, it’s still manipulation,” Adam remarked, asperity lurking beneath his quiet tone.

“Listen,” Vega began, but she never had the opportunity to finish.

“ _Alex, you need to get out,”_ Janus said, a sense of urgency crackling across the connection _._ “ _I’m tracking numerous hostiles converging on the building_ .. “

The connection was cut before Janus could explain. Immediately, Madison felt the surge of high-octane adrenaline snaking through her veins, like a fast acting drug. She rode that precision as it heightened everything around her, felt it like the sheer edge of a cut diamond.

Activating her Retinal Enhancement, Madison ran towards the nearest window, watching as men in black combat gear converged on the building. Where the hell had they come from? Through a combination of visual, thermal, and motion detection, her Wayfinder Radar tagged the men, projecting their location directly onto her retina.

“Who are these guys after? You or us?” Madison asked as she pointed the handle of Vega’s revolver at Quinn.

“I don’t … I don’t know,” Quinn swallowed nervously.

Madison watched the men communicate using hand signals. These men were a well-trained unit, their movements precise and unnervingly familiar.

They were soldiers. Military.

“They’re after me.”

She turned away from the window, looking steadily at Adam.  He didn’t question her, didn’t doubt what she said, just nodded.

Adam frowned at the two Juggernaut agents. “You two need to leave. If you see an opening, take it. They’re not after you. Madison and I will take the brunt of their attack but I need to know you’ll escape.”

Vega hesitated, but at Adam’s hard stare she nodded.

Madison walked past Vega and returned her revolver. Vega blinked a few times, clearly trying to process the turn of events.

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” Quinn remarked.

“There are civilians on the floors below; we need to get out before anyone is hurt.”

Madison nodded distractedly. Her vision distorted briefly as she activated the micro-thermograph modules in her optics. Looking down at the floor, the beige carpet disappeared, replaced with a type of blue and green silhouetted overlap. Her optics penetrated low-density objects, allowing her to essentially see through walls. Madison watched the outlines of the soldiers ascend the stairs, already on level two.

Blinking back to her normal visual range, Madison looked up at Adam. “They’re already in the building. If we cloak, we can try to take as many as we can silently. Reduce their numbers.”

_/_I_/_

As the men came up the stairs to the sixth level, Adam’s Smart Vision was tagging the soldiers, identifying their weapons and any augmentations. Adam stood perfectly still a few feet from the staircase. The two soldiers were hunched over their weapons, muzzles arcing slowly as they moved forward in a slow sweep of the area.

They had no idea Adam was a body length away from them. The electromagnetic field of his Glass Shield Cloaking system had adjusted the frequency of EM radiation around him, rendering him invisible.

The barrel of an MP-5 semi-automatic with a suppressor attached moved past his position. The soldier followed soon after. In the corner of his eye, Adam saw the shimmering effect of Madison’s Glass Shield Cloaking drop as she reached for her target.

Adam stepped forward, let his own shield drop and engaged his nano-blade. The soldier, sensing movement, reacted quicker than Adam anticipated, whipping around. But the soldier had all the disadvantage; his back was exposed, and he needed those precious few seconds to bring the weapon around to sight it. Adam didn’t allow him this opportunity.

Engaging his Reflex Booster, Adam felt the firing of nerve clusters throughout his body, a strange tingling sensation, almost addictively intense. His arm shot out, blindingly fast, polymer fingers latching onto the barrel of the MP-5, pushing it away from his body. The soldier pushed back, but his angle was all wrong.

The soldier struggled ineffectively for a few seconds. But that was all Adam needed. Ignoring the soldier’s body, protected by the hard polymer of his Kevlar bodysuit, Adam found the flesh between his neck a perfect target, sliding the blade in smoothly.

The soldier stilled instantly, let out a wet, gurgling sound as he fell to the floor. Adam withdrew his blade, grimacing as the arterial spray of a severed carotid showered the hallway like red raindrops.

“Shit,” Madison cursed.

Adam turned around to see two more soldiers ascend the stairs and move onto their level. Madison withdrew the combat knife from the sheath on her thigh and sent it spiralling towards the soldiers. The moment swept by in a noiseless vacuum of slow motion as Adam watched the knife pinwheel with startlingly accuracy.

At the last second, the soldier shifted slightly, and the knife, which would have buried into his jugular, embedded into the side of his neck. He pitched to the side and fell against the wall.

The soldier’s companion was already aiming his rifle at Madison as she ran towards him. Adam withdrew his Zenith Pistol, discharging four rounds into the soldier’s Kevlar vest. Adam knew the rounds wouldn’t penetrate but they would stagger him. That was Adam’s intention, at least until Madison could reach his positon.

The bullets sparked against the soldier’s chest and he staggered back a few steps. That was all the time Madison needed to reach him. The soldier swung his rifle blindly towards Madison. She blocked it easily, darted under the soldier’s arm, found purchase in the joins of the Kevlar bodysuit and flung him into the nearest wall.

The wall caved in as soon as his body impacted, the plasterboard collapsing, powdery ash floating in the debris. Adam allowed himself a brief moment to marvel at Madison’s strength. While neglect and time had no doubt eroded the plaster, it still would have taken a tremendous amount of force to cave in that wall.

The other soldier, knife still embedded in his neck, pushed himself up from the wall to aim his weapon at Madison. Adam let the liquid polymer reaction buffers installed in his wrist and elbow joint, perfectly align his gun. As the bullet left the muzzle, the stabilizer in his arm compensated for the recoil, allowing the bullet to punch through the soldier’s helmet and into his forehead. The bullet would have lost some momentum, slowed down by the helmet’s material, but it still entered the soldier’s forehead, yanking his head back sharply before he collapsed, never getting a chance to fire on Madison.

Madison jerked her head towards him, the golden augmentation alight in her eyes, making the gratitude appear in stark relief. Bullets peppered her positon, causing Madison to launch herself to the side.

Adam ran to the nearest door, lifted his foot up and kicked it. The wood splintered with a resounding crack as Adam shoved his shoulder into the door. Madison ran in after him and they both dove behind whatever cover they could find as bullets ripped into the room.

“Fuck,” Adam muttered as the two soldiers set themselves up outside the door.

He’d essentially trapped himself inside a room with no other escape. Leaning out of cover, Adam snapped off a few shots towards the door, watching as the soldiers withdrew quickly. Activating his Smart Vision, Adam watched the two men outside become yellow silhouettes as the synthetic neural tissue connected to his optic nerve matched micro-thermograph waves. Another four soldiers came up the stairs, and Adam tagged all six before deactivating the Smart Vision. Icons appeared at the edge of his vision, allowing him to track every hostile.

Madison leant out behind a sofa, woefully inadequate cover considering the firepower these soldier’s carried. Almost in answer to this thought, gunshots cracked through the air; semi-automatic weapons splicing together, their chattering a brutal communication between opposing munitions.

As bullets struck the cupboard, wood fragments ricocheted off the furniture, spraying small chips across his face. Adam ignored the slight sting, instead jammed a fresh clip into the feed, leaned out and fired a few shots before he had to duck back into cover.

Adam sensed a change in the rhythm of the gunfire. Small concentrated bursts towards his position. They were laying down covering fire.

Crouching down, Adam settled his shoulder against the cupboard and waited. Identifying a lull in the firing, he swung out of cover. The timing, although unintentional, was entirely auspicious. Two soldiers had broken from cover and were making a dash towards his position.

One of them faltered when they saw him. Tried skidding to a stop but he slipped. Fear warped his expression as he tried to balance himself but failed. Taking aim, he didn’t hesitate. Adam assisted his fall to the ground by placing a carefully aimed bullet through his forehead. The soldier’s head jerked, body convulsing as he toppled backwards.

Quickly, he adjusted his aim, but he needn’t have bothered. Madison had already shot the other soldier in the groin, one of the parts of his body not covered by Kevlar. He fell to the floor in an inelegant heap, screaming as he clutched his groin.

Adam saw another soldier swing into the room and take aim at Madison while she was out of cover. Bullets ripped into the sofa, sending tufts into the air, floating languorously like cotton clouds. Madison turned quickly and raced towards him.

Watching Madison run towards him produced that otherworldly slow motion effect, like everything around him had slowed into violent, devastating detail. Adam poured his clip into the soldier, altering his aim as the gunshot smashed into his Kevlar, giving Madison enough time to dive into cover behind him.

Rolling to her feet immediately, Madison ejected a spent clip and slammed in a new one.

“Thanks,” she said, not even out of breath.

Peeking her head around the corner, Adam heard her curse. A few seconds later, Adam saw why. A grenade trundled towards their position. Reaching out for Madison, intending to shove her out of the way, Madison reacted faster, by grabbing his arm and pulling him close to her. Adam growled quietly, not impressed by Madison involving him in her sudden kamikaze mission.

But then he watched as a blue sphere appeared around Madison, crackling like sapphire lightning around her. Then the grenade exploded.

_/_I_/_

Madison’s Smart Vision had tagged the grenade as soon as it left the soldier’s hand.

 **Grenade** : EMP

 **Blast radius** : 6 feet of disruptive electrical energy using electromagnetic pulses

 **Damage** : Disables electronic systems. Detonations temporarily disrupt the sensors and visual displays of any augmented individual.

 

While Madison knew Adam had some type of EMP shielding in his dermal armor, she doubted he’d be functional after being hit by the military grade EMP. They were far stronger than anything on the market. And Adam would be out of commission for at least half an hour if he was hit.

And if that fact didn’t confirm for Madison that Baldwin had somehow managed to track her down, that EMP, which only Black Ops units used, certainly confirmed it.

Shaking off those thoughts, Madison whipped around, found Adam already reaching for her. She grabbed him first, felt him struggle as she pulled him close to her, no doubt wondering why she thought now was a good time to cuddle.

Madison triggered her EMP shielding.

The High Fall Landing System, similar to Adam’s Icarus System, had been surgically implanted at the base of her vertebral column. Only unlike the Icarus, inbuilt along her vertebra was a high density EMP shield. Fusion-bonded to bone along her spine, it a distributed mix of dermal sensors and monitoring fibers to work in a pulse-phase mode when triggered. Much like her High Fall Safe Guard, it emitted a sphere of blue light, protecting her and anyone within that radius, against the bioelectrical drain of the incoming pulses from the EMP.

The grenade exploded in a spectacular sweep of blue electricity, arcing across her shielding, shivering ineffectively. Madison unclipped her own EMP grenade from the webbing on her vest and threw it towards the door. The soldiers might have EMP shielding of their own, but not as advanced as hers. Only the nano-tech molecular plates reinforced by her skin's epidermal membrane allowed for such extensive EMP shielding, which was how Madison knew that this grenade would take out the men in the hallway.

Madison pressed down on the button, then threw the EMP towards the door. The cylinder tumbled end over end like a demented pineapple. The grenade was a flux compression generator bomb, and as it hit the ground, rolling within a meter of the men’s boots, a fuse ignited the explosive material within. That explosion traveled up through the middle of the cylinder to unleashed an electro-magnetic pulse. Madison had set the target radius tight—just two meters. A hissing not unlike static from a broken television resounded for a few seconds.

She felt Adam step away from her and stick his head out around the cupboard. Madison also stepped away, watching in satisfaction as the men convulsed, gargling as they hit the floor.

Their Augs would need to cycle through a reboot. Adam holstered his weapon and engaged his blade as he walked towards the soldiers. One of them was twitching, reaching towards the weapon near his hand. Adam walked up to him, lifted his foot and stamped on his face, lip curling back as a sinister crack suggested he’d just broken the soldier’s nose.

Adam stared towards the end corridor in concertation for a few seconds before sweeping his gaze back to hers.

“Quinn and Vega have gone. We need to leave too, the Police will be on their way.”

Madison nodded and pointed towards the end of the hallway. There was an open window they could jump out of. It would be easier than having to go back downstairs, which would be a tactical nightmare with the civilians. Madison wasn’t sure if there were more soldiers out the front waiting for them, so it’d be safer for them to just go out the rear.

“Escape out the back?”

“Yeah, good idea,” Adam confirmed.

Jogging to the window, Madison completed a quick scan of the outside of the building. No soldiers. Grabbing the ledge, careful to keep away from the broken glass, she vaulted out of the window. Her landing system triggered, and as always, she felt the odd surge of fear and adrenaline. She wasn’t particularly fond of heights thanks to Baldwin’s experimentation. What sane person threw someone off a fucking building? Sane being the operative word.

Gold engulfed her, slowing her descent to the earth. Madison landed in a crouch. Too late, she heard the heartbeats. As five soldiers dropped their cloaking system and appeared around her, Madison realized how effectively she’d been herded towards their location.

As one, they attacked.

Madison launched herself to the side, grabbed her remaining combat knife from a strap on her ankle, and came off the ground like a striking anaconda to stab at the nearest soldier.

Her aim was true, the knife flashing towards the soldier’s face, about to slam into his forehead when he jerked to the side. The movement was unnervingly fast; the knife just scraped the side of his face. She lurched off balance, seeing the brief flash of gold from Adam’s Icarus Landing System.

Madison would never know what prompted the move—peripheral vision or intuition, but she suddenly spun and ducked, the fist from the soldier behind her missing her by a quarter inch. Madison caught the man’s wrist with her left hand and twisted hard while sweeping the ankle with her foot. As the soldier fell, she stepped forward, about to plunge her knife into the hollow beside the man’s collarbone, instantly severing the carotid artery, when she was pulled off him and slammed to the ground.

As Madison hit the floor, her head bounced painfully. The force would have killed anyone else, but as it was, her breath was sucked out of her lungs. Through the daze, instinct and training kicked in, her hand lashed out catching a leg. She pulled, felt the soldier stumble, and used his momentum to right herself.

Madison spared a brief glance at Adam, who’d engaged two of the soldiers, before her attention snapped back to the three soldiers surrounding her.

There was something different about these soldiers. Instead of the common combat gear the other men wore, these men wore a familiar tactical suit, matte-black and skintight.

For a few moments, none of them moved, just stood staring at her, their stillness unnerving. Then as one, they attacked. As Madison blocked a roundhouse kick, she grabbed the calf and twisted. But the soldier was well-trained and prepared for the manoeuver. He rotated his body in the same direction as the twist and in a remarkable show of athleticism, he touched his hands to the floor to support himself, while at the same time, he kicked Madison in the abdomen with his free leg.

The pain seared across her stomach but Madison didn’t let go, just held on tighter and wrenched the ankle almost right around. The soldier shrieked with such force that it sounded like his vocal cords might snap. Madison let go of his leg, the broken ankle causing his foot to flop like a fluttering flag in the wind.

The other soldiers completely ignored the screams of their fallen comrade, his pain rolling off them like water with no effect. Madison winced, wished he’d shut up.

The two remaining soldiers darted in to attack. Block, lash out, duck. It was like fighting one sinuous entity, rather than two separate soldiers. Madison had difficulty finding a weakness in their defence. While both were augmented, their reactions were almost too fast, too intuitive, as if sensing when the other would attack. It was unsettling. One would move in, while the other, far too instinctively, would cover their comrade’s open side. It was like fighting a computer simulation, designed to sense and adapt to her movements.

With no obvious communication between them, both soldiers stepped back simultaneously and charged. Madison ducked under one but the other grabbed her around the waist and slammed her to the floor. Despite the sudden flare of pain, Madison used the momentum of the soldier’s own weight to throw him off and over her head.

He landed with a hard slap and an audible grunt. Quickly, Madison twisted around and up, wedging her knee onto his chest and slamming her knife into his jugular. Blood spurted like a geyser, covering her arms and face.

Sensing movement, Madison looked up. The remaining soldier was rushing towards her. Madison just managed to pull herself up into a crouch, knowing she wouldn’t have time to stand up. Spreading her arms out, unable to set herself up properly for the attack, she waited for the soldier to barrel into her.

Only he never got the opportunity. Adam slammed into him from behind, lifted his distinctive black nano-blade and slid it across his throat. Madison was watching the soldier’s face, disturbed by the utter lack of emotion in his eyes. They were blank, as if his impending death wasn’t a noteworthy event. He gargled, grabbed his throat and collapsed.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked, retracting his blade.

Madison nodded absently as she looked around at the dead soldiers. There was something odd about them, something she couldn’t quite grasp, like the faint echo of a sound. The more she tried to pull the threads together, the faster it evaporated. The wispy strands floating away until all she was left with was a lingering sense of unease.

“We gotta go,” Adam urged oved the wail of sirens signalling the approach of the Police.

_/_I_/_

“Are you ok?”

The road they walked across stretched beyond them like a tarmac ribbon. A white line ran down the center, relatively unbroken compared to the scarred and potholed concrete. The late afternoon sun had dipped beyond the horizon, casting shadows across the street. They heard the scream as another siren cut through the air well before it reached their position. Adam ducked into an alleyway, and Madison followed.

As Adam passed under an awning, he looked over his shoulder at her, his silhouette sleek and fluid, an indistinguishable outline of black.

Madison blinked, realized he’d asked her a question. “Yeah. I just …” she tapered off, wondering if she should mention her suspicions about the soldiers.

“I don’t know how Baldwin found me.”

Panic fluttered to life like a cluster of spark plugs in her abdomen. Adam slowed his walk until Madison stepped next to him. Blood had dried on his cheek, she wasn’t sure if it was his. He said nothing, just let his gaze dig into her as he watched her impassively. He didn’t disagree with her assessment; those soldiers _were_ there for her. Madison felt her hands shake slightly, finding it difficult to fight the mounting anxiety. Madison watched Adam’s eyes rotate, knowing his social implant was likely informing him of her anxiety induced state but lacking the presence of mind to calm herself.

“How fast are you?” Adam asked suddenly, startlingly her with the change of subject.

Madison blinked a few times, frowned. Where the hell had that question come from? Looking down at her, Adam’s gaze passed briefly over her face. Madison felt the penetrating awareness, little barbs under her skin, as if Adam’s gaze alone was trying to forcibly pull out the secrets to her DNA.

“Like how fast have I been clocked? Like a cheetah?” she quipped.

Adam shot her a sharp look, opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut. Madison’s coarse bark of amusement hung in the air, out of place in the sad desolation of the ruined neighborhood.

“Relax Adam, I’m just fucking with you.”

Eyes narrowed, Adam’s lips twitched, reluctant amusement trying to force its way through his stern expression.

“I’m not sure,” Madison remarked thoughtfully, actually wondering herself.

The playful smile faltered as Madison recalled how the nanite infusion had been excruciatingly painful when administered. Muscle fibres had hardened to inhuman proportions, giving her tremendous strength. Neural ion channels had transformed to speed up nerve signals between her brain and muscle, giving her lightning fast reflexes. Bone cells had extruded organic carbon fiber webs to harden themselves against impact until only the most severe trauma could cause broken bones. Her epidermal layer had hardened like an exoskeleton which only bullets could puncture.

A brief smile passed over Adam’s face as he turned and started walking again. Ducking under a broken fence, Adam lifted the end of the iron sheet so she could pass. Madison let out a deep breath, hands no longer shaking. After she’d passed under the fence, Adam dropped the iron sheet.

Madison eyed his broad back with renewed respect. She felt calmer, and realized that Adam’s inane question about her speed was more about averting her panic attack than any real interest.

“That’s some pretty impressive EMP shielding you have,” Adam commented.

Unlike his last query, Madison sensed Adam’s inquisitiveness. She didn’t baulk at the question, like she’d automatically have done weeks ago. While still wary, Madison understood his curiosity. She _was_ an anomaly, so she understood Adam’s desire to understand.

“It activates the same way as the Icarus Landing System, generating a field of electrometric pulses. Those grenades were Military prototypes, much stronger than any current gen EMP. It would have knocked you on your ass.”

Adam laughed. It was the first time she'd heard the sound without any cadences of bitterness lurking beneath the surface. It was a rich, deep sound, rumbling pleasantly across her senses. Madison felt a smile teasing her lips, watching Adam’s normally expressionless face change, creased by humor. It softened his expression, stripping layers of tension away.

Her smile faltered slightly as she felt that odd magnetic pull towards him, opposing and pulling her in at the same time. Madison swallowed and took a tiny step back, displeased by her reaction. Of course she realized how attractive Adam was, when she wasn’t trying to stab him. You’d have to be under 8 or over 80 not to notice. But entanglements were dangerous. Madison had one mission, and it certainly didn’t involve any relationships. It was far better to retain that professional aloofness then get involved with Adam. Feelings would just complicate matters.

“That’s good to know. When you grabbed me, I just thought you were trying to take me with you.”

Madison snorted. “Not exactly.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” Adam asked.

She sighed. “Go after Savage. It’s rather _convenient_ , that Savage is in the same facility that the Riezene is being created.”

Adam made a displeased rumbling sound. “I thought the same thing. I don’t exactly trust Janus, but..”

“But you can’t not investigate the new anti-rejection drug,” Madison finished for him. “Yeah, me either. And I guess it’s two birds with one stone. _If_ Savage is even there.”

“As much as I suspect Janus thrives on secrets, I don’t see any reason for him to lie. He never mentioned your nano-tech, and how would he know about your connection with Savage?”

Madison lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug, not altogether convinced about Adam’s theory but lacking the energy to argue.

“I guess,” she replied.

“So what were your thoughts on illegally entering into a highly secured Military facility?” Adam asked, quirking an eyebrow. “I’m up for anything. Besides, it’ll save me from lining up at the unemployment office on Monday.”

 “Won’t be the first time. And I’d leave that last part out of your resume anyway,” she declared on the end of a breathy laugh.

Blowing out a slow breath, Madison let the amusement dissipate. “Are you sure?” she asked seriously. “If we get caught, you’ll go to prison. I figure I’m already marked for some type of penitentiary. I can go in alone.”

As Adam started at her, the air grew still, and the shadows seemed to wrap more tightly around her.

“No. I’m involved in this now. There’s nothing for me to go back to. I need to look forward, find my own path. We just won’t get caught.”

Madison felt a small rush of relief, an odd reaction considering her momentous trust issues. Their relationship didn’t have the greatest beginnings. She’d distrusted Adam and assumed he had an ulterior motive in everything he did. Despite her fractiousness and penchant for sarcasm, Adam had endured her suspicion, helping her regardless. There was something solidly dependable about him, and Madison supposed that if she were to team up with anyone, Adam was a likely candidate. His plethora of augmentations and impressive abilities could prove to be useful.

If those soldiers _had_ been sent by Baldwin, Madison knew her former commanding officer would track her, regardless of where she went. If she was to avoid capture, have a normal life, it wouldn’t ever be while she was breathing the same air as the erstwhile Colonel. Maybe Savage wouldn’t know where Baldwin was, but she had one lead only.

“Okay, let’s break into that facility.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:  
> 1\. I’m aware that some events aren’t canon (which is a little annoying), but since I started writing this fic before Mankind Divided came out, there’s not much I can do about it.
> 
> 2\. Garvin Quinn is a character from The Missing Link. Alex Vega and Janus are characters from Mankind Divided. 
> 
> 3\. Riezene is a drug featured in Deus Ex: Invisible War
> 
> 4\. Sorry it’s taken SO long to get this chapter out. I’m also writing/finishing up another (long) fanfic (it’s at about 135k words and the last chapter was about 25k words) so that’s taking up time as well. Hopefully, the next chapter won’t take months, but since I have a brand new baby nephew I can’t guarantee it ;)


	14. Chapter 12

The last vestiges of the setting sun disappeared over the horizon, the copper hues giving way to a dusty purple scattered with the occasional glitter of a faraway star. Twilight was slowly stealing the vibrant colors from the land, leaving behind a sombre shade that was fading into charcoal.

Adam and Madison sat watching the sunset in silence, waiting for the approaching night, the darkness proving ideal conditions for their task ahead.

It might have been a peaceful evening, but it was anything but peaceful inside Madison’s mind. She was having a hard time keeping herself detached from this assignment. Seeing a clandestine Military base where Savage _might_ be inside had her trembling with suppressed rage. Resentment dripped like acid down her spine, scorching nerves as unwanted recollections flooded her thoughts. Trigger memories were something she needed to avoid. Emotions had no place during this assignment. But despite Madison’s best effort to compartmentalize those negative emotions, they bled through. The compulsion to act on her anger felt all-consuming, engulfing the rational part of Madison’s mind and destroying the boundaries of any coherent thoughts. Madison couldn’t even predict how she’d act when, not if, she caught up with Savage again.

But even struggling to keep a tight rein on her wrath, Madison didn’t think this was the base she’d been held in. She’d been kept in lockdown inside Baldwin’s facility, so never saw the outside, but this base just didn’t _feel_ like the one she’d been held in. There was no real proof, just a vague impression. There was also too many people around for Baldwin’s liking, he’d rather undergo his illegal experimentation away from prying eyes. Of course, it’d be just like him to hide her in plain sight as well.

Closing her eyes, Madison breathed in deeply a few times, clamping tight on her feelings so she could concentrate on the task ahead. When next she opened her eyes, Madison stole a quick look at Adam, wondering what he was thinking. But as usual, his expression betrayed remarkably little about his inner thoughts. When she’d first met Adam, his expression appeared to only swing between irritated amusement and somewhat arrogant self-assuredness. Of course, his emotions were still stuck on that narrow range, but Madison had seen a different side to him.

There was a keen intelligence, Adam took everything in and missed very little. He had a subtly dry sense of humor which most people missed. And then there was that raw power and often menacing countenance which others found intimidating. Adam was well aware of how people viewed him and he did nothing to dissuade that image.

Bonds were inevitably formed happened when two people were forced to work together, and in such close quarters, having to reluctantly rely on each other. Although there was less of that reluctance. To break into this base meant having to trust each other. There was respect, sure, but trust? Part of Madison believed that aspect of herself had been broken, torn apart, and unlike her body, didn’t have the ability to repair. But she’d _have_ to trust Adam, because her options were limited.

“Are you having doubts?”

Madison jerked slightly at Adam’s question as she was pulled abruptly out of her reverie. He gave her an arch glance which seemed to suggest he knew exactly what she’d been thinking about.

“No,” she answered immediately, the lie trying to roll smoothly off her tongue but snagging on the tip.

Adam looked at her sharply, likely catching the deviation in her voice. “We can abort this plan, if you’re worried about…”

Madison waved her hand irritably and interrupted. “I’m not worried about breaking in. I don’t really care about laws anymore. I don’t think they apply to fugitives in my position. It’s what I might find. I’m….” Madison broke off, coming perilously close to talking about her feelings.

Adam’s watchful, sharply curious gaze landed on her and Madison could feel the weight of his stare.

“I think the searching is really the easiest part. Finding those answers is…hollow, strangely unsatisfying. It’s the purpose which keeps you moving forward. After that…”

He shrugged and gave a small laugh, but the amusement brushing across his expression was as pale as watercolor.

Blowing out a slow breath, Madison was disconcerted by Adam’s perceptively accurate deduction of her feelings. It sounded like he spoke from experience, but Madison didn’t feel like they knew each other well enough to pry.

Leaning over, Madison didn’t answer Adam but instead retrieved a drone from a box next to her. She tossed the UAV into the air, the rotors unfurling silently. It hung in front of her, eerily still as it waited for instructions.

Turning her arm, Madison cast an eye over the screen on the Uplink device attached to her wrist. To the untrained eye the device looked like an overly large Smart Watch. Essentially, it acted in a similar way to a smart device, only with far more technical capabilities.

The Uplink acted as a controller, providing a wireless connection to the UAV drone in front of her. Both the UAV and the Uplink were incredibly sophisticated devices. Created for the armed forces, specifically Special Ops, the UAV paired with the user’s HUD to provide real-time analysis and overlay from their surroundings. Whatever the drone viewed was analyzed by the Uplink device, and Madison had access to live biometric data while operating on a 180-bit encryption, virtually unhackable. Uplink provided facial recognition and biographies from the alphabet agencies; CIA, NSA, DHS, FBI.

It was yet another thing Madison had “borrowed” from Baldwin’s stock before she was captured.

From her Uplink, Madison angled the UAV down to her height. Unhooking two EMP grenades from her utility belt, she attached them to the drone's undercarriage via custom clips which, on command, would disengage the pins so the canisters could be deployed. The drone was also equipped with sonar tech which interfaced directly onto her optical augmentation. It was also a combat drone with the ability to fire specialized magazines from a hidden compartment.

Madison held out her wrist towards Adam. “Input your frequency and you can watch the drone’s progress as well.”

Adam seemed faintly surprised as he tapped away on the Uplink. “They’ll see this drone.”

Madison felt her lips peel back into a smile. “No,” she corrected, “they won’t. Watch.”

Pressing a button on the Uplink, the drone disappeared.

Raising an appreciative eyebrow, Adam turned to her. “Glass shield cloaking system on a drone. Impressive.”

Smiling faintly in acknowledgement, Madison sat back down on the grass and crossed her legs. The Military research facility developing the new anti-rejection drug Riezene had been easy enough to find. However, getting in to the base proved far more difficult. It wasn’t strictly a Military facility, it was mainly a medical development center run by Military scientists. So Madison was surprised to find it had so many security measures. She anticipated _some_ security. What she got was a facility patrolled by a squad of armed soldiers and countless other defence measures. They were hiding something, no base was that well secured without there needing to be _something_ to protect.

There were no blueprints they could access to navigate the base. Juggernaut hackers had tried to get blueprints but none existed. Or they had existed but had been wiped. So Adam and Madison were forced to use the drone to map out the base’s security measures. Their plan to infiltrate the base might border on recklessness but they weren’t stupid. If they could discover the countermeasures in place, map out the route the soldiers took, they stood a better chance of infiltrating it without anyone noticing. Hopefully.

As Madison used her Uplink to turn the drone towards the facility, her optical augmentation projected the drone’s line of sight onto one eye. She moved the drone forward, not worried about not being able to actually see if the drone would smash into anything since the drone had radar capabilities. Software inside the drone used obstacle avoidance algorithms, predictive modeling, and smart object discrimination. So even if she directed it into a fence, it’d automatically adjust the course.

A mile away from the facility they were securely hidden from sight in a densely populated forest area. The temperature had dipped a few degrees since the sun set but it didn’t bother Madison, who could survive freezing conditions with the nanites compensating for lowered skin temperature.

The drone approached the electrical fence, automatically adjusting the height to fly over it. Immediately the drone honed in on a patrol; the two men were tagged, the drone using biometric analysis to amass a huge amount of information about them, including any augmentations and weaponry.

The drone would be able to analyze a pattern in the soldier’s patrol so they could evade them when they entered the facility. Madison directed the UAV to circle around the perimeter, tagging patrols and possible infiltration points. The buildings were more difficult. While the drone now had a complete map of the facility, she had no idea where the Riezene was kept. Nor had she seen Savage. But Madison never expected it to be _that_ easy.

There was what looked like a large warehouse at the furthest end of the facility, which seemed to be the likeliest place to hold the Riezene. However, the main hub of activity seemed to be located in the center of the base. Madison left the drone hanging above a large two story building with tinted windows, impossible to see inside. She watched as scientists swiped a key card over a reader, allowing them entry into the buildings. That unduly complicated matters.

“There’s a lot of security, especially around that central building,” Adam remarked.

Madison made a sound of agreeance. “Unfortunately, it looks like the only way to enter any building is through a keycard.”

She was silent for a beat, figuring out their options, then looked over at Adam. “We’re going to need a hacker.”

His expression of irritation was brief but noticeable, obviously coming to the same conclusion. If they hoped to get inside the base, it’d need to be with someone who could guide them through.

“And _not_ someone from the Juggernaut. I don’t trust them. Do you know someone who’d be willing to break numerous laws?” Madison asked.

Adam sighed. “Yeah I do.”

_/_I_/_ 

“ _You’ve done some stupid things in your time Jensen, but breaking into a Military base ranks quite highly_. _You don’t even have Sarif’s backing anymore. You get caught, don’t expect me to bail you out_.”

A rueful smile danced across Adam’s normally intractable expression, like he was used to Pritchard’s barbed observations and actually found his snark amusing.

“Yet you agreed to help,” Adam pointed out, humor coating the words.

“ _Under duress_ ,” Pritchard sneered.

It wasn’t. It took some convincing and stroking of his ego to get the ex-Sarif employee to agree to help them. Pritchard was less than impressed that they were “working” with the Juggernaut Collective. His exact words; “ _Script kiddies who masquerade as hackers, at the core, cyberterrorists who thrive on chaos and conspiracies_.”

Truth be told, Pritchard wasn’t far off the mark in his assessment. Juggernaut had their own agenda and Madison knew she and Adam were being used by them for their own crusades. Then again, it wasn’t like she didn’t have an agenda, Madison just wasn’t sure they intersected.

“ _Well, are you two finished dressing for the occasion_?”

Pritchard’s nasally sneer was beginning to give Madison a headache. Reaching up hand up, she massaged the back of her ear to switch off communications. Unlike Adam’s cochlear implant, Madison had a different way to receive InfoLink communications.

Beneath the skin of her ear, a subdermal receiver was implanted. The sub-dermal bypassed the route normally travelled by sound waves, through the outer ear to the tympanic membrane. Vibrations were sent directly into the ossicles, which were tiny bones in the ears. Those sound waves were transmitted as a signal to the brain. A sub-vocal transceiver was surgically implanted near her larynx so she could talk. The method was less invasive than a cochealer implant.

Adam rolled his eyes. “I’ll contact you when we’re ready to go,” he said brusquely and signed off before Pritchard could comment.

Madison clipped the last buckle on her Tac Vest. The USMC tactical vest had multiple mag pouches, utility pockets and a pistol holster. The vest was a lightweight Level III-A+ Dragon Skin Pinnacle Armor capable of stopping steel-cased and lead-core bullets. A tactical belt was mounted through a number of belt loops at the bottom and carried EMP grenades and flash bangs. Madison was hoping she’d not need them, but she’d had been on enough ops to know that even the best laid plans fell apart.

Adam was similarly outfitted, his own vest a Dragon Skin silicone carbine ceramic body armor protecting his torso and vital organs.

Squatting near the bag she’d brought, Madison retrieved two pistols. Standing up, she pulled back the slide to check a round was in the chamber, flipped it over and held it out for Adam.

“Be very sparing with the ammo. I have one clip for each gun and that’s it.”

Reaching over, Adam took the pistol. He ejected the magazine and carefully looked over the clip.

“You sure this dart ….” Adam paused and looked up at her.

“Synaptic,” Madison supplied the name.

“….actually works?”

Madison snorted at the skepticism she heard in Adam’s voice, but couldn’t really blame him for being cynical.

“Of course.”

The scientific name for the dart’s contents didn’t exactly roll off the tongue, so the Military scientists who had developed it called it Synaptic. Which Madison assumed was meant to describe what the chemical did to a person’s short-term memory.

“The chemical inside that dart alters short term memory, namely opening the notional valve in the brain and allowing thirty minutes of short-term memory to leak out. There are two kinds of memory, short-term and long-term; the former stored by the frontal and parietal lobes, the latter stored weblike throughout different portions of the brain. The bridge between the two, the part of the brain that converts short-term memory into long-term memory, is governed by the hippocampus, which is where Synaptic works its magic. By partially dissolving the chemical glue that holds the hippocampus bridge together, Synaptic creates a mild version of retrograde amnesia that turns the target’s previous thirty minutes of memory into dreamlike recollections that fade within minutes of regaining consciousness,” Madison explained.

Adam made a sound in the back of his throat which Madison chose to take as acceptance.

Despite their planning, Madison suspected that the odds of encountering a patrol were even. The last thing she wanted was to have a shoot out and kill what were essentially her ex-colleagues. Taking a non-lethal approach was about keeping as low a profile as possible. It didn’t mean they weren’t armed, Madison still had combat knives strapped to both legs and to the back of her vest, as well as lethal rounds for the pistol.

Throwing the drone into the air, Madison used the Uplink controller on her wrist to initiate the Glass Shield cloaking and automatic mode. The drone would hover above her as she moved around the facility without Madison needing to guide it, the GPS in the Uplink and UAV constantly sending signals to each other so the drone could “follow” her. It also projected a live feed of the immediate area on to both her and Adam’s Smart Vision.

“You ready?” Madison asked.

Adam’s glasses snapped shut over his eyes, he nodded once, turned and moved with that long-legged confident stride towards to their infiltration point.

_/_I_/_

The compound was well-lit, the tall metal lightposts casting an artificial glow onto the fences and the surrounding perimeter. The fence themselves were at least 9 foot wire mesh. Electrified of course. After a lot of deliberation he and Madison had decided the best way to enter the compound wasn’t through the front gate. With Pritchard’s reluctant assistance they’d thrown some ideas around; kidnapping scientists who worked there, stealing their badges, creating their own I.D’s. But that all left a trail and camera footage, which neither wanted. That left one option; infiltrating the facility covertly.

Now they stood on the outer perimeter, out of sight of cameras and the light, waiting for Pritchard.

“We’re ready Pritchard.”

Madison put a foot forward, slightly bunched as she waited for Pritchard’s signal. Adam had asked once if she needed a boost over the fence and the look she gave him told him his answer.

“ _Remember_ ,” Pritchard advised, “ _You have about 30 seconds before the backup generator kicks in and you won’t want to be stuck on the fence_.”

Madison snorted in amusement. “Got it,” she acknowledged.

The facility had its own source of power which was on a separate grid from the lights and electrical fence. Pritchard suspected that the reason the buildings were on a separate power network was so the servers wouldn’t be comprised if the main power failed, and it wouldn’t affect their labs or whatever the hell was inside. Fortuitous for them since it would allow them to jump the fence while Pritchard cut the power. But 30 seconds wasn’t a lot of time to reach the fence and clamber over it. It’d have to do.

Hacking into the power station was remarkably easy for Pritchard. Hack in, insert a virus and he had control over the grid.

“ _Ready in three_ … _two_ … _one_ … _GO_!”

The entire compound was plunged into darkness as Pritchard switched off the power. The fence sputtered, short little electrical currents sparking before it went silent.

Madison took off in front of him. Adam initiated the Quicksilver Reflex Booster and felt the carbide bone frames in his legs engage with the reaction initiators which allowed him to reach a sprinting speed of 7.5 meters per second.

Even with the Quicksilver Booster, Madison was faster. She was practically a blur as she raced towards the fence, took two long strides and jumped. With remarkable athleticism she sprang at the fence, grabbed on and climbed like a spider to the top.

Adam wasn’t far behind. The high-density myomer muscle in his Cybernetic Legs bunched as he jumped towards the fence, the gel matrix in the knee joints and hip mounts making it easy for him to jump upwards of 4 meters. Grabbing the mesh, Adam hauled over the fence, grabbed the top with one hand so he could jump down, the shock-absorbing polymer buffers letting him land silently.

Madison was waiting for him in the shadow of the nearest building when the lights flickered back on and the fence sparked in agitation behind him.

In the corner of his eye, Adam watched the UAV drone footage projected onto his Smart Vision. The drone hovered over the area near the main building. The soldiers were agitated, talking into their comms. It was a calculated risk they had to take, the soldier’s would be far more alert now for intruders. It might just be brushed off as a power failure, Adam had no clue how often or even if the power had failed before.

“You copy Pritchard?” Adam whispered, who also had access to the drone’s footage.

“ _Yes, I can see you’re not writhing on the ground, so you made it over the fence in time_.”

Adam moved forward while Madison followed in the rear. He kept close to the building, the natural shadow providing some cover. At the edge he stopped, peeked around the corner.

No cameras were perched on the back of any of the buildings, a grievous security oversight but it was fortuitous for them. It meant they could skirt the outside of the base without tangling with the patrols. Soldiers did patrol the perimeter but on a rather slow circuitous route which meant, thanks to the drone’s advanced analytics, they knew the timing of their course.

Adam glanced back at Madison and watched her chamber a non-lethal round. She adjusted the drone’s course so that it gave them a wider view of their immediate surroundings. No soldiers were near their area.

“You ready to go?”

Madison smiled slightly. “Can’t back out now.”

Turning back around, Adam walked slowly out of cover between the two buildings, keeping a wary eye on the drone’s footage as well as in front of him. A security camera sat on the front of the building, so Adam halted out of range and allowed his Smart Vision to calculation the predictable pattern the camera followed. It would give him an exact idea of how long he had to hack into the terminal. He was familiar with the model of the security camera.

The Smart Vision returned the results and Adam grimaced. It was going to be tight. Depending on how fast he could bypass the terminal’s security measures.

Blowing out a breath, Adam’s heartbeat remained steady despite the pressure of the situation. He’d learnt long ago that high stress situations rarely fazed him. It was because his body produced an abnormal amount of an amino acid known as neuropeptide Y, which regulated blood pressure and also worked as a natural tranquilizer, controlling anxiety and buffering the effects of stress hormones like norepinephrine, also known as adrenaline. It gave him a major physical advantage in pressure situations.

He used hand signals to tell Madison what he was going to do, and she nodded to acknowledge him. He trigged his Glass Shield Cloaking System and watched Madison do the same, disappearing before his eyes. Over time, he’d learnt to adeptly enhance the shield's functionality while expending less bio-energy, significantly extending operational time. He was going to need it.

Another quick check of his surroundings, and Adam ducked around the corner as soon as the camera had veered away. He dropped to his hunches, back entirely exposed but he had no doubt Madison was capable of dealing with any threat. It was an anomalous feeling, used to working alone and covering all angles, Adam realized that he actually trusted Madison to watch his back. Adam shook his head at the thought and concentrated on bypassing the keycode.

Implanted in his cranium was a hacking device, basically a microcomputer module featuring a series of processors programmed with multiple code-breaking and counter-cryptography subroutines. He employed the hacking subroutine, which he’d honed to near-instinctive speed and responsiveness. His fingers flew over the keypad and he heard the distinctive beep and flash of green which signalled he’d broken through.

Opening the door, Adam watched Madison appear before him as she dropped her cloak and moved through entrance. Out the corner of his eye, Adam watched the camera swing back towards his direction. He quickly got up, took a step inside the door and closed it, hoping the cameras saw nothing.

Immediately he noticed the drop in temperature. The chill in the server room was almost icy. There was a quiet whir in the background, sounded like the humming of a thousand bees but was actually the CPU fans working harmoniously to keep the hardware running.

Madison stood at the edge of one of the rows of servers, blue and green lights flashing behind her. It was dark inside the room, so the flashing lights reminded Adam of a gaudy disco dance floor.

Head cocked, Madison listened for something he couldn’t hear.

“There are three heartbeats,” she whispered.

Shit, someone else was in the server room. “Where?”

Grimacing Madison motioned towards the back of the room. Right where they needed to go.

“Terrific,” he muttered.

“There’s one camera mounted near the back room. We need to draw them away and shoot him them with Synaptic,” Madison said.

Adam hesitated, still having reservations about the dart’s effectiveness. But he had little other choice.

“Fine,” he acknowledged.

Madison’s expression tightened in response to the reluctance he didn’t try to hide. She peeled off to the left while Adam went right. Retrieving the pistol from the holster, Adam chambered a round. Looking over her shoulder, Madison counted down with from three using her fingers. At one she rapped against the server panel and the loud sound retorted in the small room, bouncing and echoing against the walls.

Raising the weapon, Adam waited. He heard footsteps approaching his position, levelling the gun where he thought they might appear. A guy poked his head around the corner and Adam adjusted his aim and fired. The dart was small, but landed with unerring accuracy in the guy’s neck. Adam had time to watch the guy’s face morph from distracted irritation into surprise. But as soon as the dart hit, his eyes fluttered closed, his brain not even having time to register fear at the sudden appearance of a very heavily augmented man.

The guy dropped to the floor, Adam barely had time to reach out and grab him before he cracked his head on the tiles. As he lowered him to the ground, Madison came over, knelt beside him and put her fingers against his neck.

“Pulse is steady. You have about five minutes, give or take, before he wakes. We need to be gone before that time.”

Unclipping the guy’s badge from his pants, Madison held it up to him, a smile tucking on the corner of her mouth.

“Solves one problem.”

Adam bent his head in acknowledgment as he grabbed the badge. The keycard saved him from hacking into the main server room. He turned away, moving cautiously towards the rear of the room.

“Pritchard, you there?”

The analyst had been silent during their infiltration. Despite Pritchard’s penchant for sarcasm, and it pained Adam to admit it, he was a professional. He’d been on enough missions with the former Sarif employee riding shotgun for Pritchard to know when to remain silent.

“ _Yes_ ,” Pritchard drawled, “ _waiting with bated breath_.”

Adam leaned out of cover slightly and took in the main server room. The room was cordoned off by a glass partition. Inside, three large monitors hung on a wall, connected to the main server hub. There was only one camera, hanging above the outside of the main server room. Again, Adam let his Smart Vision tag the camera, unsurprised it was the same model used on the outside of the building.

This base was a contradiction of security methods. Whoever had designed it either had no experience or security was an afterthought. Cameras were haphazardly placed, relying too much on the technology to identify threats and not enough on placement.

The Smart Vision returned the timing of the camera’s rotation, allowing Adam to dart forward, slide the badge over the keycard reader and step inside the room. From one of the pockets on his belt he retrieved a flash drive and plugged it in.

“ _You’re up Pritchard_.”

The entire server room was protected by a Faraday cage, which was why Pritchard couldn’t hack in remotely. The room was coated in specially made metallic shielding material which prevented connectivity to cellular networks, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth outside of the room. To gain access, Adam had to physically connect to the servers. 

Pritchard had given Adam the flash drive which contained a program he’d written for attacking networks. Despite what Pritchard believed, Adam actually understood more about hacking than Pritchard realized. The security analyst’s prejudice and superiority complex refused to allow him to believe a simple Cop could comprehend computer analytics. So Adam understood what an intricate program Pritchard had written. Not only did the program hide the fact that it was stealing information from penetrated computers, but its spying methods could be remotely updated, switched out and re-programmed through an encrypted connection back to a command-and-control server.

It also gave Pritchard full access to the security system and all the information inside those servers. Pritchard was to look for reports which would provide proof through that Riezene wasn’t safe. And also find anything to do with Dr Savage. Adam doubted the Doctor was at the base anymore. If Juggernaut were to believed, Page would have moved him to another location long ago.

So all they needed to do next was actually find the Riezene and steal some samples. Whatever Pritchard stole from the servers might not be enough proof. Reports could be doctored, physical samples could not.

“Where we at Pritchard?” Adam asked, casting a slightly worried look at the timer he’d set on his Smart Vision. The guy he’d darted would wake up in a few minutes.

“ _Quiet Jensen, I need to concentrate. Unlike some I can’t just smash my way through_ my _work. This requires finesse_.”

“Well finesse quicker. Unlike some I can’t just sit behind a computer and hope a firewall can protect me,” Adam shot back.

Immediately, Adam regretted taking pot shots at Pritchard’s delicate ego. The ex-Sarif employee was unsurprisingly sensitive about his physical shortcomings. Which he more than made up for with a barbed tongue and constant provoking comments about _others_ shortcomings.

“ _Remember Jensen, you_ do _come with an off switch_. _And I’m done. Make sure you remove the flash drive_.”

Adam clamped his teeth together in an attempt not to respond. Instead, he removed the drive and quickly moved to the door. Waited a few moments until the camera angled away and slipped out of the room.

Madison was waiting for him. A look down told him the guy still unconscious and hopefully blissfully unaware the system had been compromised.

“We’re about to move out,” Madison informed Pritchard. “Do you have control over the site’s security and cameras?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Pritchard responded testily.

“Impressive Pritchard. Can you switch off infrared?”

“ _Already done_ ,” Pritchard commented, the indignantly higher octave less pronounced, likely mollified by Madison feeding his ego, transparent as the effort was to Adam.

“We’re making our way to the warehouse.”

“ _Copy that_ ,” Pritchard acknowledged.

The plan was for Pritchard to use the drone to track their progress while making sure none of the cameras caught their movement. Unlike infrared, the cameras couldn’t be switched off. That would look too suspicious to whoever was physically manning the camera feed. There was still a few hundred yards between them and their destination, but without infrared, all they had to contend with was the patrols.

The guy on the floor groaned. Adam took that as his cue to move. With a lingering look at the technician on the floor, he moved towards the door.

“Keep an eye on him Pritchard, let us know if it looks like he’s calling security.”

Madison made a frustrated sound but didn’t comment as they moved towards the door.

“ _You’re clear outside, no soldiers are in your vicinity and the cameras have been turned away_.”

Adam opened the door and cautiously peered out. As reliable as Pritchard’s skills were, Adam’s ingrained instincts would never allow him to blindly walk outside without checking his surroundings. Seeing that it was clear, he walked out the door and turned down the walkway between the two buildings, Madison following behind.

“ _The technician you darted, he’s woken up, I’ve got eyes on him_.”

Adam halted at the back of the building, looking over at Madison. She started back at him steadily, looking decidedly unconcerned.

“ _He’s looking a little_ … _dazed_.”

Then Pritchard fell annoyingly silent. Adam wondered why it was Pritchard spoke when there wasn’t a need, but when a running commentary was required he thought silence was the best option.

“I’m not interested in his emotional state Pritchard, is he calling security?” Adam asked, striving for patience but missing the mark entirely.

“ _Um, no. He’s just got up, and logged into the system, like nothing happened. Now he’s running a routine scan_. _Looks like he honestly can’t remember being darted_.”

Adam gave a rueful shake of his head and caught Madison’s gaze, a glimmer of a smile curving her lips.

“Doubts have no place in an operation like this. I wouldn’t have used Synaptic if I wasn’t 100 percent sure it would work.”

Madison was right, he shouldn’t have doubted her, and if he did have lingering reservations he shouldn’t have agreed to the plan. Appropriately chastened, Adam nodded in acquiescence to her point and turned away.

“We’re on the move Pritchard.”

_/_I_/_

The warehouse at the back of the base was enormous. It looked like a vast endless desert of concrete, the grey walls reaching up above to a colossal sky of darkness. The front of the warehouse was brightly lit, security lights cast a spotlight on the two security men posted at the large hanger door.

In their reconnaissance, they’d tagged this building as the most likely place to store the Riezene. There was constant activity during the day as workers went in and out of the warehouse. Large wooden crates marked with the XNG shipping logo were wheeled in, and about an hour later, rolled back out. Madison couldn’t fly the drone inside the warehouse as the doors had sensors which she didn’t want to trip.

While Riezene was not yet on the market, the flurry of activity inside the warehouse suggested that it would begin soon. Curious about XNG, they’d done some research and discovered the XNG shipping company was now owned by Belltower. This allowed them to ship any number of illegal tech, or product, under the guide of legitimate business. The fact that the base was using XNG instead of their own government contracted shipping company was suspicious. Likely they wanted to circumvent the rigid regulations which were in place with government shipping.

The UAV hovered outside the warehouse, an invisible presence which gave them an open view of the entire area. Madison was in two minds. She desperately wanted to see if Dr Savage was still at the facility. Their UAV’s reconnaissance over the last week revealed nothing. No facial recognition was flagged. Savage either wasn’t at the facility anymore or he hadn’t ventured outside. Both were a possibility. If Juggernaut were to be believed, Savage was a prized commodity for the Illuminate and was guarded like a jealous secret.

As much as she wanted her chance to confront Savage, Madison also couldn’t allow Riezene to be distributed. If it was such a dangerous drug, the fatality rate could be astronomical. Was that the aim? Madison felt like they were two steps behind everything. Was Savage helping with the Riezene? Was Baldwin involved? How was Bob Page and the Illuminate involved? It was all interconnected, a jumbled ball of crossed wires Madison couldn’t untangle.

Madison still wasn’t sure about the Juggernaut’s claim that the Illuminate existed, but Adam seemed convinced. As much as she’d like to just walk into the main building which housed all the scientists, Madison knew she couldn’t. Maybe if she’d been by alone, she might have acted on the admittedly reckless impulse. But Madison couldn’t, in good conscience, endanger Adam. He’d follow her, Madison knew that. So all she could do was follow the breadcrumbs and hope it led her to Savage and Baldwin.

“Madison?”

Adam called her name and she started. “What?”

She sounded defensive even to her own ears. His eyes touched on her face with that unnervingly intuitive directness, like he knew exactly the dangerous contemplations she’d been musing about. Adam looked set to say something, but Madison let her face slide into careful blankness.

“What did you say?”

He hesitated, giving her a penetrating stare. His jaw tightened briefly but he didn’t comment on her inattention.

“Has the drone finished running the analytics?” Adam repeated.

Getting across the base to the warehouse proved to be the easiest part of their mission. Their reconnaissance provided an easy way to navigate the patrols, and with Pritchard controlling the cameras, they’d been able to remain unseen. Getting into the warehouse was an altogether different matter. More soldiers patrolled the perimeter around the warehouse than any other part of the base. They needed to be precise with their infiltration if they were going to get in undetected.

Madison looked down at the Uplink device and nodded.

“There’s three patrol’s circling the warehouse. Once the next lot moves past we’ll have about three minutes until the next patrol.”

Adam nodded. “You hear that Pritchard?”

“ _Yes_ ,” came the clipped if somewhat distracted reply. 

Adjusting the drone’s height so they could see a larger area around the warehouse, Madison blinked the live feed away so that it sat at the edge of her vision. They were currently behind a building on the other side of the warehouse.

From the drone’s feed they watched two soldiers amble along the side of the warehouse, automatic weapons held in a loose grip. They appeared alert, but not wary. The power outage was likely brushed off as a fault in the grid. As the two men turned the corner, Pritchard spoke.

“ _Cameras averted_.”

Adam moved out of cover first. He walked as close to the fence as he could, careful not to get close to the electrical currents. Adam always walked with an economy of movement, no motion was wasted, every action had a purpose and every move was calculated, precise. He had complete control over his body, the use of his augmentations honed over countless hours until he molded himself into a lethal weapon.

Madison followed a few feet behind, keeping pace as Adam increased his speed. Cold fingers of anxiety danced across her skin while they were out in the open.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the warehouse came into view and she darted into the safety of cover. Adam looked back to check she was following, before picking up the pace again, jogging towards the fire escape.

A quick look at the drone’s footage showed one of the patrols was at the back of the warehouse, about ten seconds behind schedule.

Adam took three quick steps and jumped. It was like someone had set springs under his feet that let him jump meters in the air. His augmented hand caught the light, the onyx hand glinting like a black diamond as he reached out and grabbed the fire escape. With ease he lifted himself up and landed quietly on the metal landing.

Madison cast a worried glance at the drone’s footage and saw the patrol was the end of the warehouse, about 6 feet from turning down the side. Adam lowered the ladder for her and winced when it squeaked loudly. It obviously hadn’t been oiled recently and looked rusted and rarely used.

Grabbing the bottom rung Madison climbed up quickly. Almost at the top of the ladder, her foot stepped on one rung and she slipped as it gave way. Reacting quickly Madison reached up to grab another rung but that also collapsed under her weight. A black hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from falling to the floor.

She winced as the two rungs clattered to the ground, the sound echoing across the night. Whipping her head back up Madison locked eyes with Adam. He offered his other hand and Madison took it. With no apparent effort on his part, Adam hauled her the rest of the way up.

Feet touching the metal grate, Madison blew out a deep breath. The fall wouldn’t have killed her, but it would have hurt, the landing system wouldn’t have kicked in with such a small distance.

“Thank you,” she said, putting a deeper emphasis on the words.

The quiet acknowledgement had more meaning than merely saving her from falling.

“Any time,” he replied, picking out the words with infinite care, like he was handling porcelain verses.

There was friction between both of their apparent nonchalance which made Madison uncomfortable. Madison turned away from Adam and leaned down towards the ladder. She began to pull it up but the sound grated and it got stuck half way and refused to budge.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

“Leave it,” Adam whispered, casting a glance towards the end of the warehouse. “The patrol has just turned the corner.”

Madison hesitated. It depended on whether the soldiers were astute enough to recognize that the fire escape had been tampered with. And if the broken rungs had landed within seeing distance they might have a problem.

“Madison, let’s go, we have to take the risk it,” Adam urged.

She knew he was right, but she bared her teeth in agitation and stood up. A magno-lock barred their entrance. Extending the nanoblade Adam used the blunt tip of the fractured edge to cut through the lock. He opened the door cautiously and they both tensed in expectation of some alarm. When none came Adam’s shoulder’s relaxed slightly as he moved inside the warehouse.

“Pritchard, keep an ear out for any calls from the patrols around the warehouse. We might be compromised. Try and jam signals if it looks like they’re calling in reinforcement.”

“ _Naturally_ ,” Pritchard replied drolly.

“Found anything in their systems yet?” Madison asked hopefully.

Pritchard made a low sound which sounded like bees humming in her ear. “ _Not yet. But give me time. There’s_ a lot _of information here, I need time to sort through it_.”

They emerged onto the upper balcony area which wrapped around the entire warehouse. Adam dropped low on his haunches and Madison did the same. She cast an eye over the interior. It looked like it had been a large aircraft hangar which had been converted into a warehouse. It was huge regardless. Stacks and stacks of crates had been lined up neatly, leaving walkways between them where the XNG courier staff were walking. It was surprisingly loud inside, a dozen compact forklifts carried crates towards the entrance, the sound of the machines beeping and moving, combined with the staff moving around mingled to create a mild buzz in the air.

Madison used the Uplink device to bring the drone around to where they’d entered the warehouse. She blinked the drone’s footage onto one eye and watched the two men walk under the fire escape. Neither soldier looked up to notice the ladder had jammed half way. Madison was in the process of relaxing when she felt Adam still next to her. One of the soldiers had bent over and picked up the rung. She let out a slew of curses as the soldier looked around. His gaze crawled upwards until it locked onto the ladder and she saw him frown.

“Shit,” Adam muttered. “Pritchard…”

“ _Already on it_ ,” Pritchard confirmed.

This wasn’t good. If the soldier decided that two events like a blackout and a ladder out of place were not unrelated, and called for backup, Pritchard could jam their signals. But that would only forestall reinforcements. They needed to get the samples and get out. Quickly. This just fast tracked their timeline.

Adam’s thoughts were obviously along similar lines as irritation skipped across his expression.

“We gotta move.”

Madison nodded in agreement. Checking no one was below them Adam grabbed the side of the safety railing and lithely jumped over. Madison followed, letting the weight distribute evenly across her feet, legs and hips to land smoothly.

Adam hadn’t waited for her but had already walked over to the nearest crate and engaged his blade. It slid under the lid and, with some pressure, popped open. Adam’s hand dove inside the crate and he withdrew a large box. He opened it and peered inside. The box was marked Riezene. He pulled out a few capsules containing the toxic and cheaper version of Neuropozyne, handed a few to her and put a few in a pocket on his belt.

“Time to go.”

“ _Jensen you have two problems. One, the soldiers are getting antsy that they can’t connect their comms. And I’ve been monitoring the front gate. Three SUV’s have entered the facility. Looks like private security to me, not soldiers. They’re very well armed. And …. hate to be the bearer of bad news but they’re setting off towards your location_.”

Madison used the Uplink to guide the drone towards the front of the base. But lost her concentration when she heard the faint, but unmistakable sound of footsteps. Her hearing had been dulled by the amount of noise inside the warehouse, but they were close enough for Madison to hear. Immediately she grabbed for her weapon. The XNG employee stepped around the corner but was too far away for the darts limited trajectory.

Out the corner of her eye, Madison saw Adam turn towards the movement, having not heard the guy approach. Before Adam could react, Madison sprinted towards the employee who stopped, blinked a few times and opened his mouth. Madison just managed to grab him as he yelled out. She hoped the sound was drowned out as she spun the guy around and used the brachial hold to cut off his air supply.

He was a big guy, muscular, and tried to fight back. He might have succeeded against her before the nano-infusion but Madison was now as strong as three men combined. She held tight, and slowly he lost his hold on consciousness. As the XNG employee sagged in her arms Madison laid him gently on the floor.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she muttered.

Adam walked towards her and looked down at the unconscious XNG employee. His jaw tightened in agitation as he reached down and pulled the guy towards the stack of crates and stuffed him in one of the rows.

While he did that, Madison went to the end of the makeshift aisle and titled her head, concentrating on her surroundings, using her acute hearing to discern whether there was anyone in their vicinity. She heard the sound of running. Shit, someone had heard the scream.

“Adam,” she whispered. “Someone’s coming.”

He jerked his head up and moved towards her. Two soldiers emerged from the end of the aisle and they both struck, advancing fluidly like two lethal components controlled by the same brain.

Madison deflected the rifle aimed at her head and kicked at the soldier’s kneecap. His knee buckled and she used her elbow, striking squarely on the guy's forehead where his nose met his brow. He stayed motionless on his knees, as though frozen in a shocked state of semi-consciousness. A quick punch to the jaw and he slumped to the floor. Turning slightly, she saw Adam’s opponent was in a similar state of unconsciousness.

“ _Jensen, you_ have _to move. Those mercenaries are outside the warehouse.”_

A wailing alarm sounded, effectively hindering Madison’s ability to hear anything. Ejecting the non-lethal rounds she jammed a magazine into the pistol. Madison used the Uplink to circle the drone around to the front of the warehouse and watched the Mercs emerge from three SUV’s, all armed and moving in practiced formation.

One woman stood outside, very heavily augmented, directing the Mercs, obviously the team leader. As the drone fed back her augmentations, Madison’s eyebrows rose in consternation as she realized there was very little left of her that was flesh. If it was possible this woman was even more heavily augmented than Adam.

The team proceeded to move around the warehouse as a flood of XNG workers ran outside. There was no way to get out without physically fighting their way out. And just who the fuck were they? Was it a coincidence that this Merc team arrived while they were trapped inside the warehouse?

Tucking those thoughts away for future contemplation, Madison reached down and rifled through the fallen soldier’s vest, retrieving his spare ammo. She scooped up the automatic weapon the soldier had dropped and turned to face Adam. Tension cracked in the air around him, snapping so that she could almost see the sparks.

Madison frowned. “Do you know who these guys are? Black Ops, some type of private Military?”

He shook his head slowly. “No. But they remind me of another Black Ops outfit I’ve tangled with before.”

_/_I_/_

The soldiers outside weren’t the Tyrants, but it immediately brought to mind some grisly memories associated with his time tracking the clandestine unit around the world. The woman in charge did however, remind Adam of Federova. Not just physically, this woman looked as heavily augmented as Federova, but also because this woman solider appeared to have the same ruthless, dead stare as the deceased Tyrant.

Adam accepted the automatic weapon from Madison, leaning down to retrieve the spare mags from the other soldier’s pockets.

“Pritchard, is there a back exit?”

“ _Yes, but I wouldn’t advise it. They’re setting up explosives on all the doors_.”

Adam bit out a curse. “They’re boxing us in.”

Madison shrugged, looking remarkably unconcerned, considering their circumstances. “So be it. They want to treat us like cornered animals, let them experience what that’s like.”

He looked over at Madison. It wasn't so much the words which concerned him, but the flat tones and her eyes staring at him filled with a corrosive anger. Adam opened his mouth to speak but Madison interrupted.

“They’ll come in using a pincer type movement, flanking us on both sides, boxing us in and moving us towards where the rest of their team is so they can attack from all sides. Look,” she demonstrated.

Adam’s HUD vision from the drone outside showed exactly what Madison had anticipated, the mercenaries were peeling off at the entrance in three smaller units.

“We need to disrupt their flow, take out one side, it’ll give us more of a chance.”

Madison unclipped an EMP mine from her belt and smiled, an anticipatory gleam shining on her face. Adam felt an answering grin tug at the corner of his mouth. Madison dropped her gaze to the Uplink device and Adam watched the drone’s vision as it moved inside the warehouse. It’d give them more of an advantage since they could see the Merc’s movements, while the Mercs had no such help.

He also unclipped a mine from his belt and watched Madison as she placed hers on one of the crates. Adam walked down the next aisle and placed his on a crate at approximately the same height. Opening the slot, Adam checked that the blue glow of a Pulsar electromag charge was set in the discharge slot. He initiated a timer so he could move away without the damn thing going off when it sensed his movement.

Walking back, Adam leaned a shoulder against a crate at the end of the walkway and waited, keeping a wary eye on the movement of the Mercs through the drone’s vision. The ten man unit separated to go down the two walkways towards their position. He sent a quick look over his shoulder to watch Madison slip the safety off her weapon. She met his eyes, a grim set to her mouth. They both knew the likelihood of surviving this encounter was low.

Turning back around, Adam watched and waited. The Mercs wore Military Spec armor plates on their arms and legs and Matrix Cobra Warrior body armor with hard neoprene chest plate which was going to make it hard to penetrate. From the scan completed by the drone, all Mercs were augmented to some degree.

As they passed the discreetly placed mine, the powerful EMP went off. Lightning-like sparks crackled across the three men in the lead, making them shake and convulse uncontrollably. Adam leaned out of cover and ignored the three who were convulsing on the floor. Their Augs, Adam knew from unfortunate experience, would be cycling through one failed reboot after another, and they’d be useless for at least the next hour. Instead, Adam aimed and placed two careful shots into the neck of both Mercs. As the two Mercs fell he heard Madison’s gun discharge as well.

Unfortunately, they’d given away their position and Adam drew back against the crate as the drone footage showed the Mercs converging on their location. He activated the Wayfinder Radar System, and red arrows appeared at the corner of his vision as each of the men were tagged, making it easier for Adam to keep track of their movements.

He didn’t have time to move to move before the Mercs were on top of them and chaos erupted. Muzzle flashes lit up around him and hot, screaming lead filled the air to an extent that Adam could almost taste the coppery residue.

Adam flinched as the edge of a crate exploded and wood fragments ricocheted off, spraying small chips across his face. He growled in anger, let the radar track the hostile’s movement until there was a lull in fire as they reloaded which allowed Adam to lean out. The compensator in his Cybernetic Arm negated the recoil of the Flechette weapon, allowing for more accurate shots. Adam put this to good use, firing sustained bursts at the Mercs, making sure to hit hips, lower abdomen, upper thigh, anywhere the armor didn’t quite cover.

The gun clicked empty and Adam withdrew, ejecting the spent magazine and shoving another in. He had only two more mags and the pistol. Not enough against a trained force like this.

Adam looked over at Madison. She was huddled against a crate, the edges shot to pieces, hard pressed and forced to keep switching positions as the Mercs tried to converge on her from two different angles. They’d run out of bullets before they could escape or overpower these Mercs.

Making a decision, Adam initiated his Glass Shield Cloaking and quickly swapped positions between his cover and the end of another aisle. He moved quickly, aware that he was leaving Madison exposed but also knowing the Mercs would soon discover he wasn’t returning fire.

Running noiselessly down the aisle, Adam slowed as he got to the end. Taking a quick look around the corner, Adam counted the men and allowed his Tracking Aug to tag the hostiles. Still cloaked, he walked up silently behind one, reached around his body and grabbed his jaw. Yanked it violently to the right while jacking the man's body harshly to the left. The torsion of the contradictory movements snapped his neck.

One Merc spotted him and moved towards Adam, very fast. But Adam didn’t let him near. He was smaller than Adam, an in-fighter who wanted to move in close and negate Adam’s advantages of size and reach. He let the guy propel toward him, let him lunge for a grapple hold, which Adam twisted out of easily. Grabbing the Merc’s wrist, Adam raised his boot and stamped down on the guy’s kneecap. Even through the knee pad he heard the cartilage crunching, the bone breaking and ligaments sheering off. The Merc reeled, rocking instinctively back and away from the pain as the leg gave out.

The two remaining Mercs brought their guns up to shoot at him. In two movements, Adam pivoted, grabbed the Merc with the shattered knee and twisted him around so that his back was to Adam’s chest. The bullets slammed into the Merc instead. Adam felt him jerk as the rounds sparked off his armor.

The Mercs ceased shooting at their hapless companion. In one quick move, Adam wrapped his free hand around the guy’s neck and twisted. The man’s head might not have pulled off, but the life fell from him before his body hit the floor.

One of the Mercs had used those few seconds to move a pace toward Adam. The pistol was still being brought to aim, but Adam didn’t let him get a bead on him. Adam pushed the pistol away from his body just as it went off, engaged his blade and slammed it up under the Mercs neck until it scraped the inside of the Merc’s skull.

The remaining Merc to Adam’s left stepped in close and attempted to head-butt Adam, but because he was a good two inches shorter, the move was nullified when Adam suddenly rocked up on his toes and the blow landed on his chest rig rather than his jaw. Dazed, the Merc stumbled slightly but Adam didn’t let him get far. Reaching out, Adam grabbed the man’s wrists pulled them together and raised his knee. On impact with the forearms, one elbow popped out of its joint, while the wrist of the other arm snapped it in two places. Adam let go and elbowed the guy in the face. The man was rocked backward from the force of the blow.

To Adam’s surprise the guy ignored his dislocated elbow, roared in pain and charged. Adam engaged the Nanoblade on his right wrist and punctured the guy through his neck. That stopped him. Adam withdrew the blade and the Merc swayed on his feet, eyes rolling back in his head as he dropped to the floor.  

Adam quickly bent down and grabbed the Merc’s gun as another hail of gunfire peppered his position. Fucking hell, was there an endless supply of these assholes?

Diving into cover behind some more crates, Adam rolled and was up instantly. He ejected the mag and checked the clip. Almost full.

Deciding to continue his offensive attack, Adam pulled a flashbang from his belt and threw it into the middle of the converging force. He leapt up on to the top of the crates just as the grenade went off. The flash suppressor lenses in his optic implants kept him from being blinded. Most of the Mercs had no such protection. They were easy picking as they stumbled about, no doubt seeing nothing but a bright echo of white light across their vision. Adam placed easy kill shots in their neck and head.

About to jump down, bullets from a Merc he thought was dead, caught the edge of his chest rig and sprayed across his shoulder and upper arm. Unable to right himself, Adam stumbled backwards and fell off the crates, grunting in discomfort as his back hit the concrete and the impact from the bullets on the polycarbonate implants jarred painfully.

Out the corner of his eye, Adam saw the legs of a Merc walk into the aisle. Luckily, he’d held onto the gun, so he rolled awkwardly, even as he glimpsed the Merc’s finger curl around the trigger.

_/_I_/_

A bullet singed past Madison’s sleeve and she hissed, not so much in pain but agitation. She returned a few shots and quickly withdrew into cover as more rounds slammed into the crates. In a rhythm of shoot, withdraw and repeat, the absence of sound behind her slowly filtered into her awareness.

Madison glanced back, concerned she hadn’t heard the chatter of Adam’s gun in a while. Alarm spread through her chest when she saw no sign of him. Another round chipped off more of the corner of the crate she’d huddled behind. There was hardly anything left of the original shape of the crate, it was a mangled mess of sharp wooden edges.

Stepping back slightly, Madison steadied her foot and launched herself forward. Hoping the sudden movement would give her the few precious seconds she’d need to switch positions.

Madison hunkered down behind a different crate and leaned out. Her finger curled around the trigger but she eased off instantly.

Madison need not have worried about Adam. He was down the other end of the aisle, moving with that liquid grace only the heavily augmented could achieve, flowing in a violent dance around his opponents, striking at them almost at will.

While Adam was occupying that unit, Madison kept low and moved between aisles, intending to intercept the other unit.

Madison put the stolen rifle on the ground and unclipped her pistol and quietly chambered a round. The rifle wasn’t suited to the type of quick shooting she needed. Engaging her Glass Shield Cloak, Madison waited patiently for the Mercs to approach.

With the aid of the drone’s footage above, Madison knew the exact moment to step out to gain maximum casualties. She raised her pistol, knowing the Mercs would see the distorted disturbance in the electromagnetic field from her movement, but it would be too late for any of them. In a blur of perfect execution, Madison snapped off four identical headshots before any of them could even bring their weapons to sight.

The heads of all four Merc’s snapped back, blood and bone shooting out as they fell almost simultaneously, like they were soldier marionettes and their strings had been cut.

When Madison sensed movement behind her, everything slowed, sound drowned away like a low tide, as though her instincts had automatically switched off all interference so she could focus. Whipping around, Madison had just enough time to jerk to the side as a Merc stepped out of cover and fired off a shot.

She took off at a sprint towards the Merc, all but a blur in his vision. The nano-augmentation sped up nerve signals between her brain and muscle, giving her the ability to move faster than a normal human eye could track.

Reaching the Merc before he could fire off another shot, she grabbed his wrist and wrenched it back violently until she heard the snap of bone. The Merc arched his back and made a strangled, wailing sound full of pain, until Madison shoved his head into the nearest crate. Blissfully, the awful wailing ceased.

The remaining unit’s Merc stepped out of cover. As he made a wild strike at her head, Madison stepped inside the swing of the blow, grabbed him, spun and threw him over her hip. He went crashing into the crates, the back of his skull cracking as it impacted. The Merc dropped to the floor, unmoving. Madison didn’t even bother checking he was dead, she could already smell the sharp tang of the blood pouring out of his broken skull.

Madison grabbed the Merc’s weapon, a Widowmaker TX 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun. The drone’s vision revealed no other Mercs in the area so she made her way cautiously down the aisle.

Something shimmered slightly to the right, like a mirage in the middle of desert heat. Her brain registered what it was even as her body reacted to the threat. Madison turned in time to see a shape emerge, a glassy figure blurred by motion, rapidly becoming solid. The heavily augmented woman, the leader of the Mercs stood in front of her.

Before Madison could react, the woman surged forward. She was fast, far faster than any Aug Madison had encountered, even with a Reflex Booster. It was only Madison’s innate skill and reflexes which saved her.

The woman engaged a sharp nano-blade, exactly like Adam’s except gold in color. Madison brought the shotgun up, blocked the blade from piercing her chest. The nano-blade sheared through the shotgun just as the woman snapped a gun up towards Madison’s head.

As the gun drifted closer to her, a calm infused Madison’s mind. It was always like this. In times of peril, her body instinctively took over, performing the intuitive reactions drilled into her through countless hours of training and subsequent years of practice.

Instead of backpedalling, which is what the other woman probably expected, Madison went on the offensive. Bringing her arm up, she blocked the gun and used half of the seared off shotgun edge still in her hand to thrust forward, into the woman’s face.

The Merc leader was forced to jerk her head out of the way or risk having the jarred metal edge of the shotgun shoved into her cheekbone. It gave Madison a few precious seconds to step into the woman’s body and shove her violently against the crates. The Merc leader lost her grip on the gun. Madison felt it bounce off her thigh and clatter to the ground.

Madison had a split second to decide whether to grab for the gun or not. Slightly unbalanced, Madison realized she’d never have time to drop to the ground and retrieve the gun before her exposed back would be a nice target for those gold nano-blades. Instead, Madison kicked the gun away.

But even that move cost her. As she felt a slicing pain across her bicep, Madison pivoted backwards and dove away from the other blade she instinctively knew was slashing up towards her stomach.

Dropping her gaze quickly to assess the damage, Madison bared in teeth and hissed in anger when she saw the slash across her arm. Luckily, the nanite clotting factors were already slowing the bleeding, and Madison knew her regen genes would knit the fibres of her torn muscle back together.

Jerking her eyes to the front, Madison withdrew her combat knife, a rather woeful defence against those sharply dexterous blades, but better than nothing. The Merc leader was swift as she came at Madison, withdrawing one blade and striking with her augmented fist. Madison barely had time to deflect it. She rocked back on her heels and the metal fist, instead of punching across her jaw, clipped her across the shoulder. Even the glancing blow was enough to create a blooming pain and rob Madison of her precarious balance.

Madison tumbled backwards, but shifted at the last moment, tucking her shoulder in and letting gravity carry her backwards. As soon as she hit the ground, Madison rolled quickly and came up in a crouch. The Merc leader pulled her lips back into a definitively triumphant smile which showed teeth like a sharks, pulled back her nano-blade and struck down.

Ready for this manoeuver, Madison launched herself to the side, rolled once, came up behind her and rammed the knife towards the woman’s back. The Merc leader moved at the last possible second and the knife stuttered against the polycarbonate armor until it came to a stop just outside the vest. Madison struck forward anyway and let the knife bury into the back of the other woman’s shoulder, deep in the deltoid muscle.

The Merc leader growled. Actually growled. She sounded like a fucking animal.

Swinging around, Madison could feel the force of the woman’s fury like blades under her skin. Charging at Madison, the Merc leader executed a serious of punches which Madison dodged and weaved, the sharp blades clipping Madison more than she’d like.

The Merc leader must have seen her grimace of pain because she pressed her advantage with a flurry of kicks and fast punches that Madison had to work to deflect, unable to attack in turn. The woman’s speed matched Madison’s own, possibly some type of custom model Reflex Booster.

But then Madison’s luck ran out. One of the woman’s punches connected with Madison’s sternum. It rattled her chest and for an instant she couldn’t breathe as the coppery taste of blood worked up her throat. Madison was helpless to block the round house kick to her chest which sent her flying backwards into the crates.

The back of her head struck the wood and pain slashed through her like a hot knife, dimming her vision and causing her breath to be sucked in like a vacuum. Her vision cleared enough to see the Merc leader draw back her arm, the gold nano-blade glinting mockingly at her.

She sucked in a breath, willing her body to move but it just wouldn’t co-operate as the blade drifted closer to her neck. With a supreme effort Madison jerked her head to the side just as the blade struck less than an inch from her face. The Merc leader tried to jerk her arm back, but it had caught on something inside the crate, going but the woman’s struggles to free herself.

Striking up, Madison felt the satisfying grind of bone as her fist connected with the underside of the woman’s jaw. The Merc leader’s head snapped back as a surprised and pained grunt was pulled from her. But she recovered quicker than Madison hoped. Instead of stumbling back as Madison expected, the woman’s head snapped forward and head-butted Madison across her brow.

Madison’s vision dimmed completely as she dropped to the floor like a stone and a sharp pain spread out across her face. Her vision cleared just in time to once again watch one of those deadly nano-blades come down towards her head. There was no way Madison could move this time.

But instead of one of those blades shearing through her head, Madison watched in astonishment as the Merc leader was lifted up into the air as a blur of black slammed into her from the side.

She blinked a few times, wondering if maybe the last blow had caused hallucinations from a concussion. Then her vision sharpened and Madison watched Adam engage the Merc leader. Black and gold slashed together with blurringly lethal speed.

Madison struggled to her feet, her vision blurring sightly. After two hard hits to her head, a concussion was definitely possible. But even as that occurred to her, Madison felt the familiar tingling sensation across her forehead as the nanites clotted and went to work repairing the damage to her body.

Leaning down, Madison unclipped the combat knife from her ankle and circled the two combatants warily, knowing Adam’s concentration could likely be broken if she stepped in, possibly with fatal ramifications.

The Merc leader threw out her leg, sweeping around in a swift spin-kick that almost took Adam off his feet. But Adam was just as fast on the defensive, blocking the kick and launching himself at the woman as she regained her balance. The woman’s face registered a brief flash of surprise as Adam rushed forward, grabbed her around the waist and flung her into the crates. Madison heard the unmistakable sound of crunching bone.

That didn’t seem to faze her. The Merc leader’s eyes narrowed, burning animosity in her silver colored Retinal Prosthesis. Launching herself from the crates, the woman seemed to ignore the pain and charged at Adam. The Merc woman moved with unnatural speed, limbs firing on hydraulic shocks that made her impossibly agile and faster than anyone Madison had encountered before.

Madison winced when she heard the dense thuds of metal fists as the Merc leader struck at parts of Adam’s torso, the blows likely hurting him even through his body armor. Madison knew the feeling.

Both continued to trade blows, one arm slicing with the blade, the other with a fist. They seemed evenly matched, both possessing some of the most technically advanced combat augmentations in the world.

But then one of the Merc leader’s punches snapped across Adam’s jaw and momentarily dazed, he didn’t see the nano-blades surging towards him stomach. Madison was waiting for this precise moment. Gripping the hilt of her knife, she threw it with towards the woman’s neck.

Throwing knives wasn’t as easy as most Hollywood movies would make others believe. It took practice, skill and exceptional hand to eye co-ordination. The nanites which enhanced every cell of Madison’s body assisted in this process.

The knife pin-wheeled, was inches from striking its intended target before the Merc leader must have sensed something because she jerked to the side. The knife still managed slice the side of her neck and instead of her blades perforating Adam’s stomach, it instead sliced over his hip where there was no protection from his armor.

Adam grunted in pain and staggered to the side. She ignored him for the moment and ran at the Merc leader, eager to finish the bitch off. But she skidded to a stop beside Adam when the Merc leader levered herself up from the floor with Madison’s gun in her hand.

Suddenly it felt like the breath had been sucked out of the world and everything slowed into fatalistic slow detail. The gun discharged, the brief flash from the muzzle sparking like a flint and sounding thunderously loud as Madison threw herself to into Adam.

Landing on her knees, Madison screamed, “EMP engage.”

The Uplink device on her wrist lit up red and Madison scrambled to cover Adam while triggering her advanced EMP shielding. Madison looked over her shoulder as a blue sphere erupted around them. The drone had been hovering above Madison the entire fight, following her closely as programmed by the GPS. Now, by voiced-activated command, the UAV dropped the two EMP grenades onto the floor next to the Merc leader. She looked down but was too late to engage her shielding. Not that it would have mattered, those EMP grenades were Mil-Spec and would bypass anything but Madison’s own shielding.

Blue electricity cracked maliciously across the Merc leader’s Augs as she convulsed and fell backwards. Snapping her gaze back to Adam, he hissed in pain as his hand clamped down tight on his hip, the blood spilling over his black fingers.

“Shit,” she swore.

Leaning over, Madison hauled Adam to his feet. “Can you walk?”

Adam nodded, face pulled tight with pain. Madison sent a quick look towards the Merc leader, wanting to shove a knife through her heart while she was incapacitated but knowing Adam was hurt, losing too much blood and worried that more soldiers might be on their way.

“ _Jensen_.”

Madison started at the voice in her ear, having all but forgotten about Pritchard.

“What Pritchard?” Adam asked, not bothering to mask his irritation.

Pritchard sniffed. “ _I was going to ask if you’re ok._ ”

“I’m fine,” Adam bit back.

“Hm,” Pritchard’s dubiousness was clear even through his minimal response.

Madison led the way through to the back end of the warehouse, Adam limping behind her. When they got close to the door, Pritchard spoke up again.

“ _There are still two mercenaries stationed outside that door, not to mention the explosives attached. You’re all clear apart from those two factors._ ”

“Don't piss down my back then tell me it's raining,” Madison remarked.

Adam chuckled tiredly behind her.

“ _Pardon me_?” Pritchard asked, clearly affronted.

Ignoring him, Madison made sure Adam was behind some crates before she directed the UAV towards the back door. The UAV had one small tactical missile attached to it.

“Cover your ears,” Madison told Adam.

He raised an eyebrow in silent question.

“It’s up to you, I just know from experience how loud the missile is.”

Adam made a low sound of surprise. “There’s _missile_ on that drone?”

Madison shrugged. “Yeah. A small one.”

Adam did as told. It wasn’t technically a missile like a Predator drone carried but rather a smaller version, but it still packed a lot of power. With a final flick of her thumb over the Uplink device, Madison let the missile lock on to the door and covered her own ears.

The sound was explosive. The missile tore open the door in a thunderously loud eruption. Flames licked around the doorway as billows of black smoke rose like dark tornados.

The men outside were dead, lying in pieces on the asphalt. The missile had also conveniently blown open a hole in the fence. Their way out.

She watched Adam limp in front of her. With only the barest hesitation, she stepped in close to Adam and wrapped her arm around his back. He looked down at her in surprise, before placing an arm around her shoulder.

_/_I_/_

Adam was dumped rather unceremoniously onto the chair near the desk in the motel room as Madison hurried off to get supplies. He grimaced in pain and grabbed at his hip.

“Sorry,” Madison mumbled as she returned with the Medi-Kit.

The Military facility was on the outskirts of Detroit, about a five hour drive from Adam’s apartment. It had been easier to set up a temporary base rather than travel that distance. Safer as well since Reed had Madison’s samples and still couldn’t be found. Reed also knew where Madison had been staying, so Madison thought it’d be safer not go back to Sarif Industries or Adam’s apartment.

Madison had already injected Adam’s hip with a bio-foam compound to clog the wound. She always packed a few basic first aid supplies before every mission. His Sentinel Health Implant was no doubt doing the rest. He’d still need stitches.

Madison put the Med-Kit on the desk next to Adam, gaze drifting from his hip to his Tac-Vest.

“You need stitches.”

Rain pattered against the building and Madison looked up behind Adam to the window. Lightning lit up the sky like intricate strands of a golden spider web.

Adam’s jaw tensed until the bone was silhouetted through skin like old ivory. He looked set to argue but must have thought better of it when he noted the look on her face. Sitting up in the chair, Adam began to process of unbuckling all the clips attached to his Tac-Vest and belt. Divested of the Vest, Adam removed the last piece of clothing, a white undershirt covered in blood.

His golden skin was latticed with cords of muscle and crossed with numerous scars. Black polymer was bolted onto his skin from the edge of his clavicle, moulded perfectly to mimic deltoid muscles, down to bicep and wrist. It was such high quality work, the augmentations were flawless, almost artistic. Madison had experience mainly with Military augmentations, which were more about functionality, often crude looking and had none of the stealth or eminence that Adam’s had.

Madison’s gaze touched on the matrix of bolts dotting Adam’s sternum. There were six of them in an arc just under his collarbone. She could just see the shadow of a small bar raised under the skin of his pectoral muscles which joined to both arms. Two thick bars jutted out of his neck, the framework of his upper torso a mix of skin and polymer, seen and unseen. She could see no built-up scar tissue which was so often associated with augmentations. Just the gleaming black polymer matching perfectly with his honed musculature, an intricate amalgamation of flesh and metal.

“Can I stich you up?” Madison asked, a little more stiffly than intended.

Adam clicked his glasses back and Madison could see the green of his eyes, rotating slowly like no human eye ever could. She wondered for a brief moment what color his eyes were before he was augmented and felt strangely sad that she’d never know. His eyes flickered over her, the pain and adrenaline heating his gaze so it felt like crackling bolts of lightning through her body. Adam inclined his head to let her proceed.

Taking out a small injector of anaesthetic, Madison jabbed near Adam’s hip. Leaning forward, Madison peered at the wound. There was a six inch gash just above his hipbone still bleeding sluggishly. All things considered, Adam was lucky. If the Merc leader had struck even a quarter of an inch lower, she would have hit his hip.

Threading the needle, Madison poked it into Adam’s skin as a test. When he didn’t jump in reflex she knew the anaesthetic was working. Adam lifted his arm so she could stitch around the back area. Tying off the stitch in the middle, Madison straightened and moved to the front. She could feel Adam’s gaze on her, studiously silent but slowly heating her like a winter fire.

Swallowing past the sudden dryness in her throat, Madison avoided his gaze and leaned down to finish the rest of the stitching at the front. Putting a hand on Adam’s collarbone to steady herself, she was startled when she felt how pleasantly warm his skin felt beneath her fingertips.

Finishing the last stitch, Madison stood up. She wanted to step back, to put distance between herself and her emotions so she could consider the situation rationally. Find time to think past the desire she felt sizzling across her skin like an electrical current.

They both felt it, the flare of something wild and combustible, matching the raw power of the lightning outside. Maybe she shouldn’t have been content to just stand there, soaking in his warmth while the world spun around them like a giant whirlpool. Because at that moment it didn’t feel like she was fighting hundreds of invisible adversaries vying for her blood, just the voice in her mind which told her she could trust Adam.

Slowly, like he was approaching a wounded and violent predator, Adam reached out and settled a hand on her hip. Madison’s breath came in short bursts, anticipation or fear, or a combination of both, making the adrenaline sharpen every sense in her body.

When she didn’t pull away, Adam wrapped his other hand around her wrist and gently tugged her towards him. Madison let herself be pulled forward, between Adam’s legs. She stood there, unmoving, as the heat from his body slid across her skin and wrapped around her like a cocoon. He waited. For her to make up her mind, or for the final barrier to be removed because inch by slow inch, the barricade she’d built around herself had gradually been eroded by Adam’s quiet persistence, as he showed her not so much with words but actions that she could rely on him.

Acting on instinct, because she trusted her own intuition above all else, Madison leaned forward. As soon as her lips touched his, thoughts peeled off until there was nothing else but her physical reaction.

Adam’s beard scratched against her chin, but it just added another tantalizing layer to her already overloaded senses. The gentle push of his tongue brought a moan to her lips, which he swallowed almost eagerly. Her hand pressed against his chest, the muscles hard and enticing as she dug her fingers into them. There was a feverish quality to their kisses, their tongues tangling together, seeking a connection however brief and immutable.

Grabbing both hips, Adam pulled her closer until there was no space left between them and she could feel the beat of his heart against her chest. Almost on Adam’s lap, Madison let out a serrated groan when she felt the extent of Adam’s desire pressed up against her.

It was difficult not to get lost in the fever, the intensity of his kisses, the way his tongue twined with hers as their bodies responded with frightening intensity to the mere proximity of each other. Sensations whipped inside of her, brewing like a wild storm she couldn't control, stealing the oxygen from her lungs. Those thoughts of control peeled away the inner static of her mind, sharpening her thoughts until Madison had to pull away.

Breathing heavily, Adam’s chest rose and fell in quick succession as a jerky frown was pulled over his eyes. She dug her fingers into his shoulders in an effort not to kiss him again, disconcerted by the intensity of feelings swirling inside her. She’d never meant to get involved with Adam, had done everything she knew to push him away. Yet here they were, having tasted that desire which felt like a drug, far too additive. That brief moment where she’d felt that lack of control had startled her. Control was something she’d vowed never to lose again. And it _may_ have been acceptable if she knew that sleeping with Adam would negate any feelings she had for him, but she feared the opposite.

Madison dropped her gaze, trying to decipher the tumultuous emotions raging inside her. When she looked back up, Adam was watching her steadily, a coiled readiness she could feel in his body, like the crackling, bated energy of the approaching storm. Putting a hand over his chest, the slow thump of his heart felt calming.

“We shouldn’t do this.”

The small quirk of an eyebrow conveyed the idea that he couldn’t fathom why not. Adam cocked his head slightly. “Why?” he asked, the word scratching like a sharp razor.

Under her hand, the rumble in his chest sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.

“You’re hurt,” Madison reasoned.

Adam made a disagreeable sound in the back of his throat and shook his head. “No. Try again. The _real_ reason.”

Madison bared her teeth in frustration and took her hand from his chest but Adam caught it before she could move away. She tensed up against his touch, so eager moments ago to feel his hands on her, now all she wanted to do was pull away. Closing her eyes, she fought against that instinctual reaction to violence and blew out a slow breath.

“That _is_ the real reason,” she stated flatly.

His hand tightened against her wrist and Madison rounded on him. The charged, tense energy pulsating from Adam was at odds with his apathetic demeanor. She pulled her arm away and he let her.

“Fuck you Adam,” she snarled, shielding her sudden vulnerability behind anger.

The parched amusement drying across his expression made his grin all the more predatory.

“Hopefully.”

Despite herself, Madison felt a small smile tug reluctantly at the corner of her mouth. The anger abruptly deflated, leaving a hollowness inside.

“I don’t know how to trust anymore,” she shrugged in a self-recriminating way.

Adam’s eye’s narrowed. “Do you trust me?”

Madison hesitated, her mind whispering the answer before she had a chance to create a wall of excuses to block it out.

“I don’t…” she stopped. Adam deserved more than the unconvincing lies she told herself.

“Maybe,” she acknowledged, unable or possibly unwilling to give any more.

He snorted. “I suppose that admission is better than nothing.”

Adam frown suddenly. “What about you? You were injured as well.”

“It’s not a problem,” she assured him. “I’m fine.”

His eyebrows rose skyward in silent but obvious disapproval. Seeing Adam didn’t believe her, Madison used her fingers to spread the slashed shirt open, to show him the wound on her arm that the Merc leader had inflicted with her nano-blade. It had almost healed and only the faintest pink scar remained.

“That was a few inches deep and wide. I heal differently than other Augs, even those with a Sentinel Health System. A lot faster. The molecular structure of my body is different. So when I say I’m fine, I really do mean it,” she smiled, taking the sting out of her tone.

Adam didn’t say anything, just silently contemplated her. Staring at Adam while he sat there with his shirt off, the muscles moving as he did, lithely, tantalizingly, it was difficult to remember the reasons why she’d broken the kiss at all.

A frown was pulled from him suddenly and Adam massaged the mastoid bone which connected his InfoLink. “What is it Quinn? … Now .… You want to meet now?”

Silence as he listened to the Juggernaut agent’s response.

Irritation sharpened his expression as he responded. “Just tell me.” Rolling his eyes Adam said, “Fine. We’ll meet you in an hour.”

“You sure that’s wise,” Madison asked as she dug in the Medi-Kit for some bandage. Placing the dressing over the stitched area, she smoothed the adhesive over Adam’s skin.

“Better to get it over with,” Adam said, a note of finality in his voice which Madison knew would be pointless arguing.

_/_I_/_

The sky cleared as the moon set, the storm had passed quickly, leaving only the glow of an approaching dawn. Crimson light bathed the landscape as birds called in the distance. The world creaked and groaned like an old house as it settled into the gentle hours of early morning.

Adam walked past the rows of houses warily before stopping at the address Quinn had given him. He gave a final drag on the cigarette, the rich, woody notes lingering in his throat. Smoking wasn’t quite as satiating since his artificial lungs filtered out the toxicity. There was nothing satisfyingly self-destructive about smoking with no risk. Dropping the end to the floor, he ground the butt into the concrete.

Looking up, he took in the houses’ exterior. The pale golden bricks were washed black by more than a century of polluted air from the nearby factories. Though the businesses had shut down years ago, the two-toned color of the walls remained.

A residential area seemed an odd place for a meeting, but the Juggernaut seemed to make a point of acting or doing the exact opposite of what others expected. It was possibly why they’d been able to remain concealed from the authorities for so long.

Madison appeared at his side with that disconcertingly silent grace. She’d wanted to do a perimeter check before entering the house, still inherently distrustful of everyone, but particularly the Juggernaut Collective.

Adam understood Madison’s cynicism only too well; suspicion was his default mode after all. Too many people in his life had betrayed him. People who he had trusted. Megan, Sarif, S.W.A.T, even his parents to an extent. Although his frustration with his parents stemmed more from a place of grief and less from anger like the others.

So Adam understood why Madison wanted to maintain that detachment, and why she’d pulled away from him. As hard as that was, pun intended, Adam could honestly say he empathized with that need to protect herself from that aching, immeasurable feeling of eventual betrayal by people she trusted. Even if he had no intention of hurting her nor had given her a reason to doubt him.

“I checked the block. The drone picked nothing up and neither did I. Shall we get this over with?” Madison asked, a controlled edge to her voice.

Adam let out a quiet sigh and nodded. Stepping forward, there was the slightest protest from his hip. If necessary, Adam could fake being healthy. There was no tap-outs in his line of work. Jungle law applied to humans as much as animals. Showing weakness of any kind could prove potentially fatal. A few energy bars and pain killers and Adam felt almost normal.

Madison reached up and grabbed the drone. The rotors collapsed and folded in on themselves, the drone powering down as Madison shoved it in a backpack.

There were four people inside the house, Adam had already used the T-wave lenses in his Smart Vision optics to see through the thin walls of the house. Turning around, Adam made a final sweep of the street, unclipped the holster on his thigh and then knocked on the door.

Heavy footsteps approached from inside the house and Adam tensed, hand close to his holster as the door was opened. Quinn’s familiar face stood behind the door, a wide grin spreading across his face.

“Bratan and the firecracker have arrived,” Quinn announced, a hint of his Irish accent softening the vowels. “Come in.” Quinn stood back and swept his arm out in a superfluous gesture which Adam found irritating.

“Interesting place to meet Quinn,” Adam replied lightly.

The Juggernaut Agent shrugged. “Who’d think to find one of our bases here?”

Who indeed? Adam made sure to note that bit of information, building on the Profile he was creating for the hacker group. Quinn beckoned both of them to follow. Madison closed the door quietly and met his gaze. The corner of her mouth tightened and the hard set to her shoulder showed just how tense she was.

The floor creaked loudly under his feet, the scuffed wooden boards looking like they needed a good strip and varnish. Paint cracked and peeled on the walls and Adam could smell the dampness which signified mould.

Stopping at an open door, Quinn ushered them inside a room. Adam stood just inside and took everything in. A plethora or monitors, laptops, servers, desktops and other computer hardware was scattered across the room. Two guys sat on computer chairs typing furiously on keyboards. Vega stood to the right of one of them pointing at a monitor. She stood up and looked over at them as they entered the room, gaze touching on Adam before settling on Madison. Her eyes narrowed slightly, not doubt recalling the last time she’d encountered with Madison.

Adam stepped further inside the room to allow Madison and Quinn to get past him.

“Did you bring the samples?’ Quinn asked.

Before Adam could speak, Madison stepped forward and tapped the shoulder of one of the men sitting on the chair.

Madison pointed at both of them and inclined her head, “Get out.”

Silence greeted her ‘request’ as the two men gaped at her. Vega visibly stiffened and looked over at Madison, animosity smouldering in her gaze. The hacker in front of Madison stumbled over a response. Eventually he gained his composure and allowed annoyance to creep into his expression.

“Who the hell are you? You don’t get to tell…”

He never got the chance to finish before Madison’s hand whipped out, grabbed his chair and spun him towards her. Madison’s sharp gaze travelled over the unknown Juggernaut hacker, violence beating like a pulse in her eyes as she leaned down so her face was level.

She spoke so softly, the quiet tones made the menace curling around the words more poignant. “I said. Get. Out.”

Her face, although smoothly expressionless, held a coldness that her voice only hinted at. Adam watched without interference. He wasn’t going to talk with the two other unknown hackers in the room either, and Madison’s usual abrasive approach was rather effective.

The Juggernaut hacker visibly paled under her unwavering gaze. He looked over at Quinn helplessly. Quinn blinked rapidly then inclined his head towards the door. Madison missed the move Quinn made but she must have guessed what Quinn would do because she took one careful step back, still within the young man’s personal space, and crossed her arms. Swallowing nervously, the Agent pushed his computer chair back, got up and stepped around Madison, making sure not to touch her.

“You could have just asked them to leave nicely,” Quinn commented, the slightest irritation shading his words.

Flicking her eyes towards Quinn, Madison let a dangerous smile escape, which sharpened her expression and allowed hostility to thrust to the surface.

“I don’t do nice.”

Adam watched the two men leave the room. As soon as they closed the door, Madison reached inside her backpack and withdrew the drone.

Vega, who had remained a silently fuming presence, spoke for the first time. “What the fuck is that?” she hissed.

Madison looked over at Vega. “It’s a drone,” she replied, more than a hint of asperity in her tone.

The female Juggernaut Agent clamped her teeth together in anger. “I can see that. What do you think you’re doing with it?”

“This,” Madison started as she threw the drone up. It hung in the air as she tapped a few commands into the Uplink device, ‘will emit a subsonic electromagnetic pulse which will preclude any form of electronic eavesdropping.”

Resentment snapped across Vega’s face. “You can’t just come in here, order two of our guys out like you own the place and expect us not to react. And we are a _hacking_ organization, you don’t think we’ve taken similar precautions?”

“Of course you have,” Adam answered. “This is our own precaution. Now we can talk. What did you find that required such an urgent meeting?”

He didn’t much care whether Vega or Quinn liked what they were doing. There was a reason for their precautions. Pritchard has sent Juggernaut the reports that he’d pulled from the servers. Being a security analysist, he hadn’t been able to make much sense of the biotechnological jargon so Adam thought that the Juggernaut might be able to determine the contents.

“Did you bring the samples?” Quinn asked eagerly.

Adam levelled his gaze on Quinn and wondered why he was being so persistent.

“Who in the Juggernaut knew we were breaking into that base?” Adam asked.

Quinn frowned suddenly. “Why Bratan? Did you not get the samples?”

The jovial quality in Quinn’s voice dropped and his tone cooled considerably.

“Answer the question,” Madison snapped.

Vega made a scoffing sound in her throat. “Why the fuck should we?”

“Because we won’t hand over the samples if you don’t.”

Silence dropped on the room like a coffin lid. Quinn’s face went carefully neutral, and Adam wouldn’t have been surprised if he was using his Social Enhancer to temper his expression so Adam couldn’t read him. Shifting his gaze between them, whatever Quinn saw obviously made him re-think his approach.

“Myself, Alex, Janus and a few other hackers knew about the operation.”

“You have a traitor in your organization Quinn,” Madison stated flatly.

Quinn’s head was already shaking in the negative before Madison finished her sentence. “No sweetheart, we don’t.”

Whether it was Quinn’s denial or his mocking term of endearment, Adam wasn’t sure, but Madison’s barely leashed control snapped completely. Her green gaze disappeared and all that Adam could see was those golden depths practically sparking in agitation. He found the effect striking.

Once again, Madison reminded him of a wild animal. A lioness to be exact. A snarl hovered over her lips, pulling back to expose perfectly straight white teeth. Combined with her lithe grace and tawny colouring, it wasn't a far off deduction. Even more so when she launched at Quinn, full of unrestrained power as she moved in a blur, grabbed Quinn around the throat and slammed him against the wall. At the last moment she must have pulled back because Quinn’s head wasn’t shoved straight through the plasterboard.

Vega’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before she thought to react. Scrambling for her weapon, by the time she’d opened her holster Adam had already removed his and was pointing it at Vega.

“Don’t,” he warned, the command in his voice unmistakable.

Vega stilled, gaze tracing the weapon in his hand before darting quickly to check on Quinn. Adam couldn’t say he was surprised Madison had acted so aggressively, she always seemed to have a pressure sensitive denotation when it came to feelings of anger. Madison’s enforced captivity by her former commanding officer had affected her so profoundly, Adam doubted even Madison understood the extent of the psychological damage. That they’d found nothing about Dr. Savage in the reports so far, further compounded her frustration and anger.

Not that Adam had many charitable feelings at that moment either. Betrayed by someone within the Juggernaut, injured and almost killed by an unknown mercenary unit, Adam wasn’t in a particularly agreeable mood either. While Madison’s reaction was arguably too intense, and Quinn didn’t warrant such a violent response, Adam _would_ back her up.

Quinn gargled and struggled ineffectually against Madison’s hold on his throat, face reddening as she squeezed.

“Madison,” he barked warningly.

For a few seconds she didn’t ease up and Adam thought he might have to intervene. Then she loosened her fingers and Quinn’s loud breathing was the only sound in the room. Madison let go abruptly and Quinn’s slumped forward.

“Adam and I were set up. Nearly killed. So don’t play your games, I have no patience for them.”

“Obviously,” Vega drawled.

Madison’s whirled around, gaze latching onto Vega. Despite a spark of anger, she contained that aggression which was always so close to the surface and didn’t react.

“What happened?” Quinn asked, voice cracking as he stood up, massaging the red marks on his neck.

“While inside the warehouse getting the samples, we were surrounded by some type of private Military unit. Mercenaries. Well-trained and well-equipped. Not the soldiers on the base, we never even engaged any of them. Those Mercs had been alerted ahead of time that we were breaking in.”

“That’s speculation, you don’t have any definitive proof that anyone in Juggernaut sold you out,” Vega reasoned.

Adam had thought the same thing when Madison had mentioned the idea. It might just be coincidence. But if he’d learnt anything during his time as a Cop, coincidence was a badly realized twist of someone’s poor planning. Too many factors didn’t equate. The Mercs, according to Pritchard, didn’t sign in at the gate and were let through into a Military facility which viewed private contractors as little more than hired thugs. The Mercs headed straight to their location, like they’d been waiting offsite for a call which would allow them to effectively box them in before they could escape. The use of explosives wasn’t protocol, especially on a base with civilians around. None of the Military soldiers manning the base had engaged them, as if they had orders to stand down. Once Adam had outlined all of those points, even Vega’s reservations were quietened.

“We encountered a woman. She was the leader of the squad. Very heavily augmented, most likely packed with illegal hardware,” Madison reported.

Using the Uplink device, Madison tapped away and a hologram image was projected from the drone onto the space between them. Quinn sent a nervous look in Madison’s direction before moving past her to squint at the image. He whistled through his teeth and looked over at Vega.

“Do you know who that is?” Adam asked.

Quinn nodded. “Captain Evelyn Chase. The Juggernaut have bumped up against her team before.” Raising a cynical brow, Quinn continued, “You’re lucky you lived to tell the tale if you tangled with her.

“Who do they belong to?”

Vega shrugged. “We can’t say conclusively. The leader, the woman, is ex-Army, dishonourable discharge. But that’s really all we know. Who she’s working for now, no idea.” 

Still, they had a name to start with and that was more than they’d had before. If anyone could find information about this woman and her Mercs, it’d be Pritchard. That’s if he was still speaking to them, his disdain for Adam’s association with Juggernaut bordered on jealousy.

“Did you find anything in the reports we sent you?” Adam asked.

Quinn blew out a long breath and nodded. Reaching over, he pushed the mouse and the screen-saver flickered off. Typing on the keyboard he brought up the reports from the Riezene.

“Okay, so you know that the Riezene which Alex encountered in Panama City was a very poor substitute for Neuropozyne. Deaths, allergic reactions, the stuff was basically poison. This version of Riezene is a completely different composition. It’s almost identical to Neuropozyne.”

Madison gave a bleak little laugh. “So we broke into this base to basically steal Neuropozyne. That’s fantastic news,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Holding up a finger, Quinn’s lips tipped up into a humorless half-smile. “I said almost identical.”

“So what’s different?” Adam asked, intrigued.

Vega silenced Quinn with a look, then walked over to Adam. She held out her hand. “First the samples.”

Adam couldn’t help but raise an amused eyebrow. A good foot shorter than himself, Alex showed no fear of him, just a fiery determination. Chuckling quietly to himself, Adam opened a pocket on his belt and held the Riezene in his hand. Vega let her eyes linger on them but her bravado ended at actually touching him. Closing his hand around the vials, Adam stared steadily at Vega.

“You need to find out who in your organization set us up. Is that a deal?”

Vega nodded mutely. Adam opened his hand and held it out to her. With only the barest hesitation she removed the samples.

“So what’s different?” Madison asked, impatience lurking in her low tones.

“Nano-bots trackers.”

Frowning, not appreciating Quinn’s cryptic comments, Adam made a low rumbling sound. “Explain.”

“The Nano-bot is a synthetic biological agent able to function on a near atomic level and perform a pre-programmed task,” Quinn clarified.

Adam watched Vega walk over to a machine in the corner, open it up and put one of the samples in. He ignored what she was doing for the moment, and turned back to Quinn.

“But what does it do _specifically_?” Adam asked, the thin thread of his patience running out very quickly.

“We’re not exactly sure _how_ , but whoever created these nano-bots are using nanites. Nano-technology that shouldn’t even _exist_ yet.”

Madison went absolutely still and the air around her compressed, like she’d drawn all the energy from the room. She flicked her eyes to Adam and in those golden depths he could see panic and fear vying for supremacy.

“But that’s not the most interesting part. Riezene has these nano-bot trackers _inside_ the drug. Once the Riezene is injected into the body, they are designed to absorb into connective tissue and other cells. The Nano-bot works in a similar way to RFID technology, using radio waves as a medium to transmit information.”

“What kind of information?” Madison asked warily.

“Location.”

Madison’s disgust was painted across her face. “What, like a micro-chipped dog?”

Vega let out a sharp, humorless laugh which hovered in the air. “Exactly. The location of thousands of Augs across the country and world, can you imagine the power someone would have if they had this kind of information?”

Unfortunately Adam could imagine. Only too well. The potential for misuse was enormous, especially if the process was involuntary. He shuddered at the thought of someone tracking his every move. After Panchaea, a legislation had been introduced for something similar to this idea. Augs wearing bracelets which would allow the authorities to track their every movement like they were a criminal. But it was still an invasion of privacy and stripped people of basic human rights so there was fortunately enough opposition that the Bill didn’t pass. Of course the Illuminate would find a way around it.

“But if we found this information, surely others could too? I mean, if they were planning wide-spread distribution of Riezene someone might get interested enough to test it,” Adam reasoned.

Quinn gave a rueful shake of his head. “They’re already ahead of you. Wide-spread distribution wasn’t planned. At least, not in the way you were thinking. The Riezene won’t be provided to Augs for take away use, they’d have to go to a clinic and be injected there. Once inside the body, it’s virtually impossible to find.”

“So Riezene isn’t being used to poison and kill Augs like we first speculated, it’s being used as an illegal tracker. For what purpose?” Madison mused.

Before either of the Juggernaut Agents could answer, one of the young men who’d been evicted from the room came back in. His eyes flicked to Madison warily before walking towards Quinn.

“Sorry to interrupt, but you need to watch the news.”

He reached over, got a remote and clicked the TV on. The screen flickered to life and they all turned towards it.

“ _In breaking news, Zapphire Biotech, a corporation which have been attempting to make a cheaper alternative to Neuropozyne which is in drastically short supply, held a press conference moments ago. Their CEO had this to say_.”

The camera panned in on a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair and a haggard face. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked nervously around. He held a tablet in front of him, anxiously tapping a rhythm on the cover.

“ _It’s with regret that I stand here right now. As many of you are no doubt aware, Zapphire has been working tirelessly to create a cheaper and safer alternative to the drastic shortages in Neuropozyne. Unfortunately, we’ve had to make the decision to cease production due to unsafe trials. Regrettably, there’s just no_ safe _way to make it. The cheaper alternatives that we have tried to create are just not safe to give to humans.”_

Reporter’s voices exploded on-screen, a tide of riotous indignation which could be heard even through the TV. The young man who’d burst into the room switched the TV off and looked around. Vega was the first to react. She grabbed a spare keyboard near her and smashed it across a chair, profanities pouring out her mouth like acid.

The younger Juggernaut hacker backed away warily, moving to the door and escaping the room. Quinn walked over to Vega and placed a hand on her shoulder and murmured a few words into her ear. She shook his hand off irritably.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Madison retorted mildly.

Adam wasn’t taking the news as surprisingly calm as Madison. He felt his fury rise, crawling up his throat to lodge there. He squashed it down, trying for calm even as he felt the rage seep into his bloodstream. Fucking Illuminate. Always a step ahead.

“The samples are useless now.”

Rubbing a hand over his shaven head, Quinn looked at Vega in sympathy. “We still have them. Maybe we could go to the Press, try and convince them of what we found? The reports are pretty damning.”

“And who’s going to believe you?” Adam questioned, hearing the cynicism in his own voice. “Madison and I broke into a Military facility, illegally, stole those samples and the reports. You’re not getting your information from a whistle-blower. Reporters are going to want to know _how_ you obtained all this information. Are you going to reveal how you got those samples? They won’t touch this even if you could convince them. And then you’d risk their lives as well. Because the Illuminate won’t let that information get out. It’s why they got the Zapphire CEO to call that press conference. They have contingencies. They’d rather their plans be de-railed temporarily than risk exposure.”

Crossing her arms, Madison leaned her hip against the table. Her face had lost that languid expression he’d mistaken for calm, dissolving slowly to set into hardened stone. She was furious but hiding it.

“We need to keep pulling at threads. Maybe we can find Evelyn Chase. Work out who she’s working for. Either way,” Madison paused and looked over at Quinn and Vega, “you need to find out who betrayed you. And us. That’s two leads. Find the mole and we can discover who they’re reporting to.”

Despite the disappointment churning in his gut like curdled milk, making acid burn up his throat, Adam found some solace in the idea that they did have a few leads. Frustratingly, this conspiracy wasn’t unravelling, it was continuing to add further complex layers which Adam was finding tiresome. He would never give up, it went beyond stubbornness. It was a compulsion to shine a light on the darkest recesses of the Illuminate’s shadowy organization. To expose all of their atrocities so no one ever had to go through what he did.

“You’ll let us know what you find?”

 Quinn’s locked eyes with Adam, nodding. “Yeah. We’ll be in touch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note:
> 
> It’s been a while since my last update. For that I apologize. There was some issues with my laptop shitting itself with half the story written and I stupidly hadn’t backed up my work. Yearly chapter updates will not be the schedule I adhere to in the future. Maybe an 18 k chapter will go part-way to making up for it? ;)


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